THE 

FORGOTTF"^   MAN 


o 


i       M     k 


BY 
\\  >I   GRAHAM  SUMNEll 

EDITED  BY 

AL1/)WAY  KELLER 


•\^m«v??.  m«i\oiV^  A\mV\Vj^ 
[VOGI] 


William  Graham  Sumner 

[1907] 


THE 

FORGOTTEN   MAN 

AND 

OTHER    ESSAYS 

BY 
WILLIAM  GRAHAM  SUMNER 


EDITED  BY 

ALBERT  GALLOWAY  KELLER 


NEW  HAVEN 

YALE   UNIVERSITY  PRESS 

LONDON:    HUMPHREY  MILFORD 

OXFORD  UNIVERSITY  PRESS 

MDCCCCXVIII 


Copyright,  1919, 
By  Yale  University  Press 


o  ^  LinR ARY 

o  o  l]^avERs^rv  ui-  cmjfouma 

^-)^  •  SAISIU  BAlUiAJKA 


PREFACE 

WITH  the  present  collection  the  publication  of 
Sumner's  Essays  comes  to  an  end.  The  original 
project  of  publishers  and  editor  contemplated  but  a  single 
volume — "War  and  Other  Essays"  —  and  they  accord- 
ingly equipped  that  volume  with  a  bibliography  which 
was  as  complete  as  they  then  could  make  it.  But  when, 
later  on,  other  materials  came  to  be  known  about,  and 
especially  after  the  discovery  of  a  number  of  unpub- 
lished manuscripts,  the  encouraging  reception  accorded  to 
the  first  venture  led  us  to  publish  a  second,  and  then  a 
third  collection:  "Earth  Hunger  and  Other  Essays"  and 
"The  Challenge  of  Facts  and  Other  Essays."  It  was 
during  the  preparation  of  the  latter  of  these,  now  some 
five  years  ago,  that  the  late  Professor  Callender  deplored  to 
the  editor  the  omission  of  certain  of  Sumner's  essays  in 
political  economy  —  in  particular  those  dealing  with  free 
trade  and  sound  money.  And  the  reviewers  of  preceding 
collections  had  reminded  us,  rightly  enough,  that  there 
should  be  a  fuller  bibliography  and  also  an  index  covering 
all  the  essays. 

In  this  last  volume  we  have  striven  to  meet  these  several 
suggestions  and  criticisms.  And  it  is  now  the  purpose  of 
the  publishers  to  form  of  these  singly  issued  volumes  a  set 
of  four,  numbered  in  the  order  of  their  issue.  Since  the 
ocries  could  not  have  been  planned  as  such  at  the  outset, 
this  purpose  is  in  the  nature  of  an  after-thought;  and  there 
is  therefore  no  general  organization  or  systematic  classi- 

3 


4  PREFACE 

fication  by  volumes.  In  so  far  as  classification  is  possible, 
under  the  circumstances,  it  is  made  by  way  of  the  index. 
This  and  the  bibliography  are  the  work  of  Dr.  M.  R.  Davie; 
and  are  but  a  part  of  the  service  he  has  performed  in  the 
interest  of  an  intellectual  master  whom  he  could  know  only 
through  the  printed  word  and  the  medium  of  another  man. 

Sumner's  dominant  interest  in  political  economy,  as 
revealed  in  his  teaching  and  writing,  issued  in  a  doughty 
advocacy  of  "free  trade  and  hard  money,"  and  involved 
the  relentless  exposure  of  protectionism  and  of  schemes 
of  currency-debasement.  As  conveying  his  estimate  of 
protectionism,  it  is  only  fitting  that  his  little  book  on  "The 
-Ism  which  teaches  that  Waste  makes  Wealth"  should 
be  recalled  from  an  obscurity  that  it  does  not  deserve;  it 
is  typical  of  the  author's  most  vigorous  period  and  wit- 
nesses to  the  acerbity  of  a  former  issue  that  may  recur. 
In  default  of  a  single,  comprehensive  companion-piece  in 
the  field  of  finance,  and  one  making  as  interesting  read- 
ing, it  has  been  necessary  to  confine  selection  to  several 
rather  briei  articles,  most  of  them  dating  from  the  cam- 
paign of  1896.  In  the  choice  of  all  economic  essays  I 
have  been  guided  by  the  advice  of  my  colleague,  Professor 
F.  R.  Fairchild,  a  fellow-student  under  Sumner  and  a 
fellow-admirer  of  his  character  and  career.  Professor  S. 
L.  Mims  also  has  been  generous  in  his  aid.  I  do  not 
need  to  thank  either  of  these  men,  for  what  they  did  was 
a  labor  of  gratitude  and  love. 

The  title  essay  will  be  found  at  the  end  of  the  volume. 
It  is  the  once-famous  lecture  on  "The  Forgotten  Man," 
and  is  here  printed  for  the  first  time.  When  "War  and 
Other  Essays"  was  being  prepared,  we  had  no  knowledge 
of  the  existence  of  this  manuscript  lecture;  and,  in  order 
to  bring  into  what  we  supposed  was  to  be  a  one- 
volume  collection  this  character-creation  of  Sumner's,  one 
often  alluded  to  in  modern  writings,   we   reprinted    two 


PREFACE  5 

chapters  from  "What  Social  Classes  Owe  to  Each  Other." 
It  has  been  found  impracticable  in  later  reprintings  of 
Vol.  I  to  replace  those  chapters  with  the  more  complete 
essay;  and  we  have  therefore  decided  to  reproduce  the 
latter,  despite  the  certain  degree  of  repetition  involved, 
rather  than  leave  it  out  of  the  series.  In  view  of  the  fact 
that  Sumner  has  been  more  widely  known,  perhaps,  as 
the  creator  and  advocate  of  the  "Forgotten  Man,"  than 
as  the  author  of  any  other  of  his  works,  we  entitle  this 
volume  "The  Forgotten  Man  and  Other  Essays." 

Several  essays  not  of  an  economic  order  have  been  in- 
cluded because  they  have  come  to  my  knowledge  within 
the  last  few  years  and  have  seemed  to  me  to  call  for  preser- 
vation. It  is  almost  impossible  to  fix  the  dates  of  such 
manuscript  essays,  for  I  have  not  been  able  in  all  cases  to 
secure  information  from  persons  who  might  be  able  to 
identify  times  and  occasions.  And  there  remain  a  good 
number  of  articles  and  manuscripts,  published  or  unpub- 
hshed,  which  can  receive  no  more  than  mention,  with  a 
word  of  characterization,  in  the  bibliography. 

Some  mention  ought  to  be  made  here  of  a  large  body  of 
hand-written  manuscript  left  by  Sumner  and  representing 
the  work  of  several  years  —  1899  to  1905  or  thereabouts  — 
upon  a  systematic  treatise  on  "The  Science  of  Society." 
Printed  as  it  was  left,  partially  and  unevenly  completed 
and  with  many  small  and  some  wide  hiatuses,  this  manu- 
script would  make  several  substantial  volumes.  It  is  a 
monument  of  industry,  involving,  as  it  did,  the  collection 
over  many  years  of  thousands  of  notes  and  memoranda, 
and  the  extraction  from  the  same,  by  a  sort  of  tour  de  force, 
of  generalizations  intended  to  be  set  forth,  with  the  sup- 
port of  copious  evidence,  in  the  form  of  a  survey  of  the 
evolution  and  life  of  human  society.  These  manuscripts, 
as  left,  represent  no  more  than  a  preliminary  survey  of  a 
wide   field,    together    with    more    elaborately    worked    out 


6  PREFACE 

chartings  of  sections  of  that  field.  The  author  planned 
to  re- write  the  whole  in  the  light  of  "Folkways."  The  con- 
tinuation, modification,  and  completion  of  this  enterprise, 
in  something  approaching  the  form  contemplated  by  its 
author,  must  needs  be,  if  at  all  possible,  a  long  task. 

As  one  surveys,  through  these  volumes  of  essays,  the 
various  phases  of  scholarly  and  literary  activity  of  their 
author,  and  then  recalls  the  teaching,  both  extensive  and 
intensive,  done  by  him  with  such  unremitting  devotion 
to  what  he  regarded  as  his  first  duty  —  and  when  one 
thinks,  yet  again,  of  his  labors  in  connection  with  college 
and  university  administration,  with  the  Connecticut  State 
Board  of  Education,  and  in  other  lines  —  it  is  hard  to  un- 
derstand where  one  man  got  the  time,  with  all  his  ability 
and  energy,  to  accomplish  all  this.  In  the  presence  of  evi- 
dence of  such  incessant  and  unswerving  industry,  scarcely 
interrupted  by  the  ill-health  that  overtook  Sumner  at 
about  the  age  of  fifty,  an  ordinary  person  feels  a  sense 
of  oppression  and  of  bewilderment,  and  is  almost  willing 
to  subscribe  to  the  old,  hopeless  tradition  that  "there  were 
giants  in  those  days." 

In  the  preparation  of  this  set  of  books  the  editor  has  been 
constantly  sustained  and  encouraged  by  the  interest  and 
sympathy  of  the  woman  who  stood  by  the  author's  side 
through  life,  and  to  whom  anything  that  had  to  do  with  the 
preservation  of  his  memory  was  thereby  just,  perfect,  and 
altogether  praiseworthy.  The  completion  of  this  editorial 
task  would  be  the  more  satisfying  if  she  were  still  among 
us  to  receive  the  final  offering. 

A.  G.  Keller. 

West  Boothbay  Hakbor,  Mb., 
September  1,  1918. 


CONTENTS 

Protectionism,  THE  -Ism  which  Teaches  that  Waste  IMakes 


PAGE 

.    .         3 
Preface  ... 


Wealth  (1885)      ^^^ 

Tariff  Reform  (1888) 

What  is  Free  Trade?  (1886)      J*^  ' 

^Protectionism  Twenty  Years  After  (1906)      J^J 

•^  Prosperity  Strangled  by  Gold  (1896) 

C' Cause  and  Cure  of  Hard  Times  (1896) _    •    • 

^^The  Free-Coinage  Scheme  is  Impracticable  at  every  Point 
"'  .  ....     la* 

(1896) gg 

^    The  Delusion  of  the  Debtors   (1896) 

The  Crime  of  1873  (1896) •    •    •    •    —^.:    '    '     „„ 

A  Concurrent  Circulation  of  Gold  and  Silver  (1878)    ...    •     ib^ 
The  Influence  of  Commercial  Crises  on  Opinions  about  Eco-    ^^^ 

nomic  Doctrines  (1879) 

The  Philosophy  of  Strikes  (1883) 

Strikes  and  the  Industrial  Organization  (1887) ^*    ' 

Trusts  and  Trades-unions  (1888)      

An  Old  "Trust"  (1889) ^^^ 

Shall  Americans  Own  Ships?  (1881) 

Politics  in  America,  1776-1876  (1876) 

The  Administration  of  Andrew  Jackson  (1880)      

The  Commercial  Crisis  of  1837  (1877  or  1878) ^7J 

The  Science  of  Sociology   (1882) 

-r,  ...       409 

Integrity  in  Education 

Discipline . ., 

The  Cooperative  Commonwealth 

CThe  Forgotten  Man   (1883) 

Bibliography g. 

Index 


PROTECTIONISM 

THE   -ISM   WHICH   TEACHES   THAT   WASTE 
MAKES    WEALTH 

[1885] 

PREFACE 

DURING  the  last  fifteen  years  we  have  had  two  great 
questions  to  discuss:  the  restoration  of  the  currency 
and  civil -service  reform.  Neither  of  these  questions  has  yet 
reached  a  satisfactory  solution,  but  both  are  on  the  way 
toward  such  a  result.  The  next  great  effort  to  strip  off  the 
evils  entailed  on  us  by  the  Civil  W^ar  will  consist  in  the  re- 
peal of  those  taxes  which  one  man  was  enabled  to  le\^^  on 
another,  under  cover  of  the  taxes  which  the  government 
had  to  lay  to  carry  on  the  war.  I  have  taken  my  share  in 
the  discussion  of  the  first  two  questions,  and  I  expect  to 
take  my  share  in  the  discussion  of  the  third. 

I- have  written  this  book  as  a  contribution  to  a  popular 
agitation.  I  have  not  troubled  myself  to  keep  or  to  throw 
off  scientific  or  professional  dignity.  I  have  tried  to  make 
my  point  as  directly  and  effectively  as  I  could  for  the 
readers  whom  I  address,  viz.,  the  intelligent  voters  of  all 
degrees  of  general  culture,  who  need  to  have  it  explained 
to  them  what  protectionism  is  and  how  it  works.  I  have 
therefore  pushed  the  controversy  just  as  hard  as  I  could, 
and  have  used  plain  language,  just  as  I  have  always  done 
before  in  what  I  have  written  on  this  subject.  I  must  there- 
fore forego  the  hope  that  I  have  given  any  more  pleasure 
now  than  formerly  to  the  advocates  of  protectionism. 

9 


10    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

Protectionism  seems  to  me  to  deserve  only  contempt  and 
scorn,  satire  and  ridicule.  It  is  such  an  arrant  piece  of 
economic  quackery,  and  it  masquerades  under  such  an  af- 
fectation of  learning  and  philosophy,  that  it  ought  to  be 
treated  as  other  quackeries  are  treated.  Still,  out  of  defer- 
ence to  its  strength  in  the  traditions  and  lack  of  informa- 
tion of  many  people,  I  have  here  undertaken  a  patient  and 
serious  exposition  of  it.  Satire  and  derision  remain  re- 
served for  the  dogmatic  protectionists  and  the  sentimental 
protectionists;  the  Philistine  protectionists  and  those  who 
hold  the  key  of  all  knowledge;  the  protectionists  of  stupid 
good  faith  and  those  who  know  their  dogma  is  a  humbug 
and  are  therefore  irritated  at  the  exposure  of  it;  the  pro- 
tectionists by  birth  and  those  by  adoption;  the  protec- 
tionists for  hire  and  those  by  election;  the  protectionists 
by  party  platform  and  those  by  pet  newspaper;  the  pro- 
tectionists by  "invincible  ignorance"  and  those  by  vows 
and  ordination;  the  protectionists  who  run  colleges  and 
those  who  want  to  burn  colleges  down;  the  protectionists 
by  investment  and  those  who  sin  against  light;  the  hope- 
less ones  who  really  believe  in  British  gold  and  dread  the 
Cobden  Club,  and  the  dishonest  ones  who  storm  about 
those  things  without  believing  in  them;  those  who  may  not 
be  answered  when  they  come  into  debate,  because  they  are 
"great"  men,  or  because  they  are  "old"  men,  or  because 
they  have  stock  in  certain  newspapers,  or  are  trustees  of 
certain  colleges.  All  these  have  honored  me  personally,  in 
this  controversy,  with  more  or  less  of  their  particular  at- 
tention. I  confess  that  it  has  cost  me  something  to  leave 
their  cases  out  of  account,  but  to  deal  with  them  would 
have  been  a  work  of  entertainment,  not  of  utility. 

Protectionism  arouses  my  moral  indignation.  It  is  a 
subtle,  cruel,  and  unjust  invasion  of  one  man's  rights  by 
another.  It  is  done  by  force  of  law.  It  is  at  the  same 
time  a  social  abuse,  an  economic  blunder,  and  a  political 


DEFINITIONS  11 

evil.  The  moral  indignation  which  it  causes  is  the  motive 
which  draws  me  away  from  the  scientific  pursuits  which 
form  my  real  occupation,  and  forces  me  to  take  part  in  a 
popular  agitation.  The  doctrine  of  a  "call"  applies  in 
such  a  case,  and  every  man  is  bound  to  take  just  so  great  a 
share  as  falls  in  his  way.  That  is  why  I  have  given  more 
time  than  I  could  afford  to  popular  lectures  on  this  sub- 
ject, and  it  is  why  I  have  now  put  the  substance  of  those  lec- 
tures into  this  book. 

W.  G.  S. 


Chapter  I 

DEFINITIONS:     STATEMENT    OF    THE    QUESTION 
TO    BE    INVESTIGATED 

(A)  The  System  of  which  Protection  is  a  Survival. 

1.  The  statesmen  of  the  eighteenth  century  supposed 
that  their  business  was  the  art  of  national  prosperity. 
Their  procedure  was  to  form  ideals  of  pohtical  greatness 
and  civil  prosperity  on  the  one  hand,  and  to  evolve  out  of 
their  own  consciousness  grand  dogmas  of  human  happiness 
and  social  welfare  on  the  other  hand.  Then  they  tried  to 
devise  specific  means  for  connecting  these  two  notions  with 
each  other.  Their  ideals  of  political  greatness  contained, 
as  predominant  elements,  a  brilliant  court,  a  refined  and 
elegant  aristocracy,  well-developed  fine  arts  and  belles 
lettres,  a  powerful  army  and  navy,  and  a  peaceful,  obedient, 
and  hard-working  peasantry  and  artisan  class  to  pay  the 
taxes  and  support  the  other  part  of  the  political  structure. 
In  this  ideal  the  lower  ranks  paid  upward,  and  the  upper 
ranks  blessed  downward,  and  all  were  happy,  together. 
The  great  political  and  social  dogmas  of  the  period  were 
exotic  and  incongruous.  They  were  borrowed  or  accepted 
from  the  classical  authorities.     Of  course  the  dogmas  were 


12    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ^ESSAYS 

chiefly  held  and  taught  by  the  philosophers,  but,  as  the 
century  ran  its  course,  they  penetrated  the  statesman  class. 
The  statesman  who  had  had  no  purpose  save  to  serve  the 
"grandeur"  of  the  king,  or  to  perpetuate  a  dynasty,  gave 
way  to  statesmen  who  had  strong  national  feeling  and 
national  ideals,  and  who  eagerly  sought  means  to  realize 
their  ideals.  Having  as  yet  no  definite  notion,  based  on 
facts  of  observation  and  experience,  of  what  a  human 
society  or  a  nation  is,  and  no  adequate  knowledge  of  the 
nature  and  operation  of  social  forces,  they  were  driven  to 
empirical  processes  which  they  could  not  test,  or  measure, 
or  verify.  They  piled  device  upon  device  and  failure  upon 
failure.  When  one  device  failed  of  its  intended  purpose 
and  produced  an  unforeseen  evil,  they  invented  a  new  de- 
vice to  prevent  the  new  evil.  The  new  device  again  failed 
to  prevent,  and  became  a  cause  of  a  new  harm,  and  so  on 
indefinitely. 

2.  Among  their  devices  for  industrial  prosperity  were 
(1)  export  taxes  on  raw  materials,  to  make  raw  materials 
abundant  and  cheap  at  home;  (2)  bounties  on  the  export 
of  finished  products,  to  make  the  exports  large;  (3)  taxes 
on  imported  commodities  to  make  the  imports  small,  and 
thus,  with  No.  2,  to  make  the  "balance  of  trade"  favorable, 
and  to  secure  an  importation  of  specie;  (4)  taxes  or  prohibi- 
tion on  the  export  of  machinery,  so  as  not  to  let  foreigners 
have  the  advantage  of  domestic  inventions;  (5)  prohibition 
on  the  emigration  of  skilled  laborers,  lest  they  should  carry 
to  foreign  rivals  knowledge  of  domestic  arts;  (6)  monop- 
olies to  encourage  enterprise;  (7)  navigation  laws  to  foster 
ship-building  or  the  carrying  trade,  and  to  provide  sailors 
for  the  navy;  (8)  a  colonial  system  to  bring  about  by  po- 
litical force  the  very  trade  which  the  other  devices  had 
destroyed  by  economic  interference;  (9)  laws  for  fixing 
wages  and  prices  to  repress  the  struggle  of  the  non-capitalist 
class  to  save  themselves  in  the  social  press;    (10)  poor-laws 


DEFINITIONS  13 

to  lessen  the  struggle  by  another  outlet;  (11)  extravagant 
criminal  laws  to  try  to  suppress  another  development  of 
this  struggle  by  terror;   and  so  on,  and  so  on. 


(B)  Old  and  New  Conceptions  of  the  State. 

3.  Here  we  have  a  complete  illustration  of  one  mode  of 
looking  at  human  society,  or  at  a  state.  Such  society  is, 
on  this  view,  an  artificial  or  mechanical  product.  It  is  an 
object  to  be  molded,  made,  produced  by  contrivance. 
Like  every  product  which  is  brought  out  by  working  up  to 
an  ideal  instead  of  working  out  from  antecedent  truth  and 
fact,  the  product  here  is  haphazard,  grotesque,  false.  Like 
every  other  product  which  is  brought  out  by  working  on 
lines  fixed  by  a  priori  assumptions,  it  is  a  satire  on  human 
foresight  and  on  what  we  call  common  sense.  Such  a 
state  is  like  a  house  of  cards,  built  up  anxiously  one  upon 
another,  ready  to  fall  at  a  breath,  to  be  credited  at  most 
with  naive  hope  and  silly  confidence;  or,  it  is  like  the  long 
and  tedious  contrivance  of  a  mischievous  schoolboy,  for 
an  end  which  has  been  entirely  misappreciated  and  was 
thought  desirable  when  it  should  have  been  thought  a 
folly;  or,  it  is  like  the  museum  of  an  alchemist,  filled  with 
specimens  of  his  failures,  monuments  of  mistaken  industry 
and  testimony  of  an  erroneous  method;  or,  it  is  like  the 
clumsy  product  of  an  untrained  inventor,  who,  instead  of 
asking:  "what  means  have  I,  and  to  what  will  they  serve.'^" 
asks:  "what  do  I  wish  that  I  could  accomplish.?"  and 
seeks  to  win  steps  by  putting  in  more  levers  and  cogs,  in- 
creasing friction  and  putting  the  solution  ever  farther  off. 

4.  Of  course  such  a  notion  of  a  state  is  at  war  with  the 
conception  of  a  state  as  a  seat  of  original  forces  which 
must  be  reckoned  with  all  the  time;  as  an  organism  whose 
life  will  go  on  anyhow,  perverted,  distorted,  diseased, 
vitiated  as  it  may  be  by  obstructions  or  coercions;    as  a 


14    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

seat  of  life  in  which  nothing  is  ever  lost,  but  every  ante- 
cedent combines  with  every  other  and  has  its  share  in  the 
immediate  resultant,  and  again  in  the  next  resultant,  and 
so  on  indefinitely;  as  the  domain  of  activities  so  great  that 
they  should  appall  any  one  who  dares  to  interfere  with 
them;  of  instincts  so  delicate  and  self -preservative  that  it 
should  be  only  infinite  delight  to  the  wisest  man  to  see 
them  come  into  play,  and  his  sufficient  glory  to  give  them 
a  little  intelligent  assistance.  If  a  state  well  performed  its 
functions  of  providing  peace,  order,  and  security,  as  con- 
ditions under  which  the  people  could  live  and  work,  it 
would  be  the  proudest  proof  of  its  triumphant  success  that 
it  had  nothing  to  do  —  that  all  went  so  smoothly  that  it 
had  only  to  look  on  and  was  never  called  to  interfere;  just 
as  it  is  the  test  of  a  good  business  man  that  his  business 
runs  on  smoothly  and  prosperously  while  he  is  not  harassed 
or  hurried.  The  people  who  think  that  it  is  proof  of  en- 
terprise to  meddle  and  "fuss"  may  believe  that  a  good 
state  will  constantly  interfere  and  regulate,  and  they  may 
regard  the  other  type  of  state  as  "non-government."  The 
state  can  do  a  great  deal  more  than  to  discharge  police 
functions.  If  it  will  follow  custom,  and  the  growth  of  social 
structure  to  provide  for  new  social  needs,  it  can  powerfully 
aid  the  production  of  structure  by  laying  down  lines  of 
common  action,  where  nothing  is  needed  but  some  common 
action  on  conventional  lines;  or,  it  can  systematize  a  num- 
ber of  arrangements  which  are  not  at  their  maximum  utility 
for  want  of  concord;  or,  it  can  give  sanction  to  new  rights 
which  are  constantly  created  by  new  relations  under  new 
social  organizations,  and  so  on. 

5.  The  latter  idea  of  the  state  has  only  begun  to  win 
way.  All  history  and  sociology  bear  witness  to  its  com- 
parative truth,  at  least  when  compared  with  the  former. 
Under  the  new  conception  of  the  state,  of  course  liberty 
means  breaking  off  the  fetters  and  trammels  which  the 


DEFINITIONS  15 

"wisdom"  of  the  past  has  forged,  and  laissez-faire,  or  "let 
alone,"  becomes  a  cardinal  maxim  of  statesmanship,  be- 
cause it  means:  "Cease  the  empirical  process.  Institute 
the  scientific  process.  Let  the  state  come  back  to  normal 
health  and  activity,  so  that  you  can  study  it,  learn  some- 
thing about  it  from  an  observation  of  its  phenomena,  and 
then  regulate  your  action  in  regard  to  it  by  intelligent 
knowledge."  Statesmen  suited  to  this  latter  type  of  state 
have  not  yet  come  forward  in  any  great  number.  The  new 
radical  statesmen  show  no  disposition  to  let  their  neighbors" 
alone.  They  think  that  they  have  come  into  power  just 
because  they  know  what  their  neighbors  need  to  have  done 
to  them.  Statesmen  of  the  old  type,  who  told  people  that 
they  knew  how  to  make  everybody  happy,  and  that  they 
were  going  to  do  it,  were  always  far  better  paid  than  any 
of  the  new  type  ever  will  be,  and  their  failures  never  cost 
them  public  confidence  either.  We  have  got  tired  of  kings, 
priests,  nobles  and  soldiers,  not  because  they  failed  to 
make  us  all  happy,  but  because  our  a  priori  dogmas  have 
changed  fashion.  We  have  put  the  administration  of  the 
state  in  the  hands  of  lawyers,  editors,  litterateurs,  and  pro- 
fessional politicians,  and  they  are  by  no  means  disposed  to 
abdicate  the  functions  of  their  predecessors,  or  to  abandon 
the  practice  of  the  art  of  national  prosperity.  The  chief 
difl'erence  is  that,  whereas  the  old  statesmen  used  to  temper 
the  practice  of  their  art  with  care  for  the  interests  of  the 
kings  and  aristocracies  which  put  them  in  power,  the  new 
statesmen  feel  bound  to  serve  those  sections  of  the  popu- 
lation which  have  put  them  where  they  are. 

6.  Some  of  the  old  devices  above  enumerated  (§  2)  are, 
however,  out  of  date,  or  are  becoming  obsolete.^     Number 

1  February  4,  1884,  Mr.  Robinson  of  New  York  proposed,  in  the  House  of 
Representatives,  an  amendment  to  the  Constitution,  so  as  to  allow  Congress  to 
lay  an  export  duty  on  cotton  for  the  encouragement  of  home  manufactures. 
(Record,  862.) 


16    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

3,  taxes  on  imports  for  other  than  fiscal  purposes,  is  not 
among  this  number.  Just  now  such  taxes  seem  to  be  com- 
ing back  into  fashion,  or  to  be  enjoying  a  certain  revival. 
It  is  a  sign  of  the  deficiency  of  our  sociology  as  compared 
with  our  other  sciences  that  such  a  phenomenon  could  be 
presented  in  the  last  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century,  as 
a  certain  revival  of  faith  in  the  efficiency  of  taxes  on  im- 
ports as  a  device  for  producing  national  prosperity.  There 
is  not  a  single  one  of  the  eleven  devices  mentioned  above, 
including  taxes  on  the  exportation  of  machinery  and  pro- 
hibitions on  emigration,  which  is  not  quite  as  rational  and 
sound  as  taxes  on  imports. 

I  now  propose  to  analyze  and  criticize  protectionism. 

{€)  Definition  of  Protectionism  —  Definition  of 
"Theory." 

7.  By  protectionism  I  mean  the  doctrine  of  protective 
taxes  as  a  device  to  be  employed  in  the  art  of  national 
prosperity.  The  protectionists  are  fond  of  representing 
themselves  as  "practical"  and  the  free  traders  as  "theo- 
rists." "Theory"  is  indeed  one  of  the  most  abused  words 
in  the  language,  and  the  scientists  are  partly  to  blame  for 
it.  They  have  allowed  the  word  to  come  into  use,  even 
among  themselves,  for  a  conjectural  explanation,  or  a  specu- 
lative conjecture,  or  a  working  hypothesis,  or  a  project  which 
has  not  yet  been  tested  by  experiment,  or  a  plausible  and  harm- 
less theorem  about  transcendental  relations,  or  about  the  way 
in  which  men  will  act  under  certain  motives.  The  news- 
papers seem  often  to  use  the  word  "theoretical"  as  if  they 
meant  by  it  imaginary  or  fictitious.  I  use  the  word  "the- 
ory," however,  not  in  distinction  from  fact,  but,  in  what  I 
understand  to  be  the  correct  scientific  use  of  the  word,  to 
denote  a  rational  description  of  a  group  of  coordinated  facts 
in  their  sequence  and  relations.  A  theory  may,  for  a  special 
purpose,  describe  only  certain  features  of  facts  and  disre- 


DEFINITIONS  17 

gard  others.  Hence  "in  practice,"  where  facts  present 
themselves  in  all  their  complexity,  he  who  has  carelessly 
neglected  the  limits  of  his  theory  may  be  astonished  at 
phenomena  which  present  themselves;  but  his  astonish- 
ment will  be  due  to  a  blunder  on  his  part,  and  will  not  be 
an  imputation  on  the  theory. 

8.  Now  free  trade  is  not  a  theory  in  any  sense  of  the 
word.  It  is  only  a  mode  of  liberty;  one  form  of  the  assault 
(and  therefore  negative)  which  the  expanding  intelligence 
of  the  present  is  making  on  the  trammels  which  it  has  in- 
herited from  the  past.  Inside  the  United  States,  absolute 
free  trade  exists  over  a  continent.  No  one  thinks  of  it  or 
realizes  it.  No  one  "feels"  it.  We  feel  only  constraint 
and  oppression.  If  we  get  liberty  we  rejflect  on  it  only  so 
long  as  the  memory  of  constraint  endures.  I  have  again 
and  again  seen  the  astonishment  with  which  people  realized 
the  vact  when  presented  to  them  that  they  have  been  living 
under  free  trade  all  their  lives  and  never  thought  of  it. 
When  the  whole  world  shall  obtain  and  enjoy  free  trade 
there  will  be  nothing  more  to  be  said  about  it;  it  will  dis- 
appear from  discussion  and  reflection;  it  will  disappear 
from  the  text-books  on  political  economy  as  the  chapters 
on  slavery  are  disappearing;  it  will  be  as  strange  for  men 
to  think  that  they  might  not  have  free  trade  as  it  would  be 
now  for  an  American  to  think  that  he  might  not  travel  in 
this  country  without  a  passport,  or  that  there  ever  was  a 
chance  that  the  soil  of  our  western  states  might  be  slave 
soil  and  not  free  soil.  It  would  be  as  reasonable  to  apply 
the  word  "theory"  to  the  protestant  reformation,  or  to 
law  reform,  or  to  anti-slavery,  or  to  the  separation  of  church 
and  state,  or  to  popular  rights,  or  to  any  other  campaign  in 
the  great  struggle  which  we  call  liberty  and  progress,  as  to 
apply  it  to  free  trade.  The  pro-slavery  men  formerly  did 
apply  it  to  abolition,  and  with  excellent  reason,  if  the  use 
of  it  which  I  have  criticized  ever  was  correct;    for  it  re- 


18     THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

quired  great  power  of  realizing  in  imagination  the  results 
of  social  change,  and  great  power  to  follow  and  trust  ab- 
stract reasoning,  for  any  man  bred  under  slavery  to  realize, 
in  advance  of  experiment,  the  social  and  economic  gain  to 
be  won  —  most  of  all  for  the  whites  —  by  emancipation. 
It  now  requires  great  power  of  "theoretical  conception" 
for  people  who  have  no  experience  of  the  separation  of 
church  and  state  to  realize  its  benefits  and  justice.  Simi- 
lar observations  would  hold  true  of  all  similar  reforms. 
Free  trade  is  a  revolt,  a  conflict,  a  reform,  a  reaction  and 
recuperation  of  the  body  politic,  just  as  free  conscience, 
free  worship,  free  speech,  free  press,  and  free  soil  have  been. 
It  is  in  no  sense  a  theory. 

9.  Protectionism  is  not  a  theory  in  the  correct  sense  of 
the  term,  but  it  comes  under  some  of  the  popular  and  in- 
correct uses  of  the  word.  It  is  purely  dogmatic  and  a 
priori.  It  is  desired  to  attain  a  certain  object  —  wealth 
and  national  prosperity.  Protective  taxes  are  proposed  as 
a  means.  It  must  be  assumed  that  there  is  some  connec- 
tion between  protective  taxes  and  national  prosperity, 
some  relation  of  cause  and  effect,  some  sequence  of  ex- 
pended energy  and  realized  product,  between  protective 
taxes  and  national  wealth.  If  then  by  theory  we  mean  a 
speculative  conjecture  as  to  occult  relations  which  have 
not  been  and  canixot  be  traced  in  experience,  protection 
would  be  a  capital  example.  Another  and  parallel  ex- 
ample was  furnished  by  astrology,  which  assumed  a  causal 
relation  between  the  movements  of  the  planets  and  the 
fate  of  men,  and  built  up  quite  an  art  of  soothsaying  on 
this  assumption.  Another  example,  paralleling  protection- 
ism in  another  feature,  was  alchemy,  which,  accepting  as 
unquestionable  the  notion  that  we  want  to  transmute  lead 
into  gold  if  we  can,  assumed  that  there  was  a  philosopher's 
stone,  and  set  to  work  to  find  it  through  centuries  of  repeti- 
tion of  the  method  of  "trial  and  failure." 


DEFINITIONS  19 

10,  Protectionism,  then,  is  an  ism;  that  is,  it  is  a  doctrine 
or  system  of  doctrine  which  offers  no  demonstration,  and 
rests  upon  no  facts,  but  appeals  to  faith  on  grounds  of  its 
a  priori  reasonableness,  or  the  plausibility  with  which  it 
can  be  set  forth.  Of  course,  if  a  man  should  say:  "I  am 
in  favor  of  protective  taxes  because  they  bring  gain  to  me. 
That  is  all  I  care  to  know  about  them,  and  I  shall  get  them 
retained  as  long  as  I  can"  —  there  is  no  trouble  in  under- 
standing him,  and  there  is  no  use  in  arguing  with  him.  So 
far  as  he  is  concerned,  the  only  thing  to  do  is  to  find  his 
victims  and  explain  the  matter  to  them.  The  only  thing 
which  can  be  discussed  is  the  doctrine  of  national  wealth 
by  protective  taxes.  This  doctrine  has  the  forms  of  an 
economic  theory.  It  vies  with  the  doctrine  of  labor  and 
capital  as  a  part  of  the  science  of  production.  Its  avowed 
purpose  is  impersonal  and  disinterested  —  the  same,  in 
fact,  as  that  of  political  economy.  It  is  not,  like  free  trade, 
a  mere  negative  position  against  an  inherited  system,  to 
which  one  is  led  by  a  study  of  political  economy.  It  is  a 
species  of  political  economy,  and  aims  at  the  throne  of  the 
science  itself.  If  it  is  true,  it  is  not  a  corollary,  but  a  pos- 
tulate, on  which,  and  by  which,  all  political  economy  must 
be  constructed. 

11.  But  then,  lo!  if  the  dogma  which  constitutes  pro- 
tectionism —  national  wealth  can  be  produced  by  protective 
taxes  and  cannot  be  produced  without  them  —  is  enunciated, 
instead  of  going  on  to  a  science  of  political  economy  based 
upon  it,  the  science  falls  dead  on  the  spot.  TMiat  can  be 
said  about  production,  population,  land,  money,  exchange, 
labor  and  all  the  rest?  What  can  the  economist  learn  or 
do.'*  What  function  is  there  for  the  university  or  school? 
There  is  nothing  to  do  but  to  go  over  to  the  art  of  legisla- 
tion, and  get  the  legislator  to  put  on  the  taxes.  The  only 
questions  which  can  arise  are  as  to  the  number,  variety, 
size,  and  proportion  of  the  taxes.     As  to  these  questions 


20    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

the  economist  can  offer  no  light.  He  has  no  method  of  in- 
vestigating them.  He  can  deduce  no  principles,  lay  down 
no  laws  in  regard  to  them.  The  legislator  must  go  on  in 
the  dark  and  experiment.  If  his  taxes  do  not  produce  the 
required  result,  if  there  turn  out  to  be  "snakes"  in  the  tariff 
which  he  has  adopted,  he  has  to  change  it.  If  the  result 
still  fails,  change  it  again.  Protectionism  bars  the  science 
of  political  economy  with  a  dogma,  and  the  only  process  of 
the  art  of  statesmanship  to  which  it  leads  is  eternal  trial 
and  failure  —  the  process  of  the  alchemist  and  of  the  in- 
ventor of  perpetual  motion. 

(D)  Definition  of  Free  Trade  and  of  a  Protective 

Duty. 

12.  What  then  is  a  protective  tax. 5*  In  order  to  join 
issue  as  directly  as  possible,  I  will  quote  the  definitions  given 
by  a  leading  protectionist  journal,^  of  both  free  trade  and 
protection,  "The  term  'free  trade,'  although  much  dis- 
cussed, is  seldom  rightly  defined.  It  does  not  mean  the 
abolition  of  custom  houses.  Nor  does  it  mean  the  substi- 
tution of  direct  for  indirect  taxation,  as  a  few  American 
disciples  of  the  school  have  supposed.  It  means  such  an 
adjustment  of  taxes  on  imports  as  will  cause  no  diversion 
of  capital,  from  any  channel  into  which  it  would  otherwise 
fliow,  into  any  channel  opened  or  favored  by  the  legislation 
which  enacts  the  customs.  A  country  may  collect  its  en- 
tire revenue  by  duties  on  imports,  and  yet  be  an  entirely 
free  trade  country,  so  long  as  it  does  not  lay  those  duties 
in  such  a  way  as  to  lead  any  one  to  undertake  any  em- 
ployment, or  make  any  investment  he  would  avoid  in  the 
absence  of  such  duties:  thus,  the  customs  duties  levied  by 
England  —  with  a  very  few  exceptions  —  are  not  incon- 
sistent with  her  profession  of  being  a  country  which  be- 

^  Philadelphia  American,  August  7,  1884. 


DEFINITIONS  21 

lieves  in  free  trade.  They  either  are  duties  on  articles  not 
produced  in  England,  or  they  are  exactly  equivalent  to 
the  excise  duties  levied  on  the  same  articles  if  made  at 
home.  They  do  not  lead  any  one  to  put  his  money  into 
the  home  production  of  an  article,  because  they  do  not 
discriminate  in  favor  of  the  home  producer." 

13.  "A  protective  duty,  on  the  other  hand,  has  for  its 
object  to  effect  the  diversion  of  a  part  of  the  capital  and 
labor  of  the  people  out  of  the  channels  in  which  it  would 
run  otherwise,  into  channels  favored  or  created  by  law." 

I  know  of  no  definitions  of  these  two  things  which  have 
ever  been  made  by  anybody  which  are  more  correct  than 
these.     I  accept  them  and  join  issue  on  them. 

(E)  Protectionism  Raises  a  Purely  Domestic 
Controversy. 

14.  It  will  be  noticed  that  this  definition  of  a  protective 
duty  says  nothing  about  foreigners  or  about  imports.  Ac- 
cording to  this  definition,  a  protective  duty  is  a  device  for 
effecting  a  transformation  in  our  own  industry.  If  a  tax 
is  levied  at  the  port  of  entry  on  a  foreign  commodity  which 
is  actually  imported,  the  tax  is  paid  to  the  treasury  and 
produces  revenue.  A  protective  tax  is  one  which  is  laid 
to  act  as  a  bar  to  importation,  in  order  to  keep  a  foreign 
commodity  out.  It  does  not  act  protectively  unless  it 
does  act  as  a  bar,  and  is  not  a  tax  on  imports  but  an  ob- 
struction to  imports.  Hence  a  protective  duty  is  a  wall  to 
inclose  the  domestic  producer  and  consumer,  and  to  pre- 
vent the  latter  from  having  access  to  any  other  source  of 
supply  for  his  needs,  in  exchange  for  his  products,  than 
that  one  which  the  domestic  producer  controls.  The  pur- 
pose and  plan  of  the  device  is  to  enable  the  domestic  pro- 
ducer to  levy  on  the  domestic  consumer  the  taxes  which 
the  government  has  set  up  as  a  barrier,  but  has  not  col- 


22    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

lected  at  the  port  of  entry.  Under  this  device  the  govern- 
ment says:  "I  do  not  want  the  revenue,  but  I  will  lay  the 
tax  so  that  you,  the  selected  and  favored  producer,  may 
collect  it."  "I  do  not  need  to  tax  the  consumer  for  my- 
self, but  I  will  hold  him  for  you  while  you  tax  him." 


(F)  "A  Protective  Duty  is  not  a  Tax." 

15.  There  are  some  who  say  that  "a  tariff  is  not  a  tax," 
or  as  one  of  them  said  before  a  Congressional  Committee: 
"We  do  not  like  to  call  it  so!"  That  certainly  is  the  most 
humorous  of  all  the  funny  things  in  the  tariff  controversy. 
If  a  tariff  is  not  a  tax,  what  is  it.^^  In  what  category  does 
it  belong.'*  No  protectionist  has  ever  yet  told.  They  seem 
to  think  of  it  as  a  thing  by  itself,  a  Power,  a  Force,  a 
sort  of  Mumbo  Jumbo  whose  special  function  it  is  to  pro- 
duce national  prosperity.  They  do  not  appear  to  have  an- 
alyzed it,  or  given  themselves  an  account  of  it,  sufficiently 
to  know  what  kind  of  a  thing  it  is  or  how  it  acts.  Any 
one  who  says  that  it  is  not  a  tax  must  suppose  that  it  costs 
nothing,  that  it  produces  an  effect  without  an  expenditure 
of  energy.     They  do  seem  to  think  that  if  Congress  will 

say:   "Let  a  tax  of  per  cent  be  laid  on  article  A,"  and 

if  none  is  imported,  and  therefore  no  tax  is  paid  at  the 
custom  house,  national  industry  will  be  benefited  and 
wealth  secured,  and  that  there  will  be  no  cost  or  outgo. 
If  that  is  so,  then  the  tariff  is  magic.  We  have  found  the 
philosopher's  stone.  Our  congressmen  wave  a  magic  wand 
over  the  country  and  say:  "Not  otherwise  provided  for, 
one  hundred  and  fifty  per  cent,"  and,  presto!  there  we  have 
wealth.  Again  they  say:  "Fifty  cents  a  yard  and  fifty 
per  cent  ad  valor  em'';  and  there  we  have  prosperity!  If 
we  should  build  a  wall  along  the  coast  to  keep  foreigners 
and  their  goods  out,  it  would  cost  something.  If  we  main- 
tained a  navy  to   blockade  our  own  coast  for  the  same 


DEFINITIONS  23 

purpose,  it  would  cost  something.     Yet  it  is  imagined  that 
if  we  do  the  same  by  a  tax  it  costs  nothing. 

16.  This  is  the  fundamental  fallacy  of  protection  to 
which  the  analysis  will  bring  us  back  again  and  again. 
Scientifically  stated,  it  is  that  protectionism  sins  against  the 
conservation  of  energy.  More  simply  stated,  it  is  that  tJie 
protectionist  either  never  sees  or  does  not  tell  the  other  side  of 
the  account,  the  cost,  the  outlay  for  the  gains  which  he  alleges 
from  protection,  and  that  when  these  are  examined  and  weighed 
they  are  sure  vastly  to  exceed  the  gains,  if  the  gains  were  real, 
even  taking  no  account  of  the  harm  to  national  growth 
which  is  done  by  restriction  and  interference. 

17.  There  are  only  three  ways  in  which  a  man  can  part 
with  his  product,  and  different  kinds  of  taxes  fall  under 
different  modes  of  alienating  one's  goods.  First,  he  may 
exchange  his  product  for  the  product  of  others.  Then  he 
parts  with  his  property  voluntarily,  and  for  an  equivalent. 
Taxes  which  are  paid  for  peace,  order,  and  security,  fall 
under  this  head.  Secondly,  he  may  give  his  product 
away.  Then  he  parts  with  it  voluntarily  without  an  equiv- 
alent. Taxes  which  are  voluntarily  paid  for  schools,  libra- 
ries, parks,  etc.,  fall  under  this  head.  Thirdly,  he  may  be 
robbed  of  it.  Then  he  parts  with  it  involuntarily  and  with- 
out' an  equivalent.  Taxes  which  are  protective  fall  under 
this  head.  The  analysis  is  exhaustive,  and  there  is  no 
other  place  for  them.  Protective  taxes  are  those  which  a 
man  pays  to  his  neighbor  to  hire  him  (the  neighbor)  to 
carry  on  his  own  business.  The  first  man  gets  no  equiva- 
lent (§  108).  Hence  any  one  who  says  that  a  tariff  is  not 
a  tax  would  have  to  put  it  in  some  such  category  as  tribute, 
plunder,  or  robbery.  In  order,  then,  that  we  may  not  give 
any  occasion  for  even  an  unjust  charge  of  using  hard  words, 
let  us  go  back  and  call  it  a  tax. 

18.  In  any  case  it  is  plain  that  we  have  before  us  the  case 
of  two  Americans.     The  protectionists  who  try  to  discuss 


24    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

the  subject  always  go  off  to  talk  English  politics  and  history, 
or  Ireland,  or  India,  or  Turkey.  I  shall  not  follow  them. 
I  shall  discuss  the  case  between  two  Americans,  which  is 
the  only  case  there  is.  Whether  Englishmen  like  our  tariff 
or  not  is  of  no  consequence.  As  a  matter  of  fact.  English- 
men seem  to  have  come  to  the  opinion  that  if  Americans 
will  take  their  own  home  market  as  their  share,  and  will 
keep  out  of  the  world's  market,  they  (the  Englishmen)  will 
agree  to  the  arrangement;  but  it  is  immaterial  whether 
they  agree,  or  are  angry.  The  only  question  for  us  is: 
What  kind  of  an  arrangement  is  it  for  one  American  to 
tax  another  American?  How  does  it  work?  Who  gains 
by  it?  How  does  it  affect  our  national  prosperity? 
These  and  these  only  are  the  questions  which  I  intend 
to  discuss. 

19.  I  shall  adopt  two  different  lines  of  investigation. 
First,  I  shall  examine  protectionism  on  its  own  claims  and 
pretensions,  taking  its  doctrines  and  claims  for  true,  and 
following  them  out  to  see  whether  they  will  produce  the 
promised  results;  and  secondly,  I  shall  attack  protection- 
ism adversely,  and  controversially.  If  any  one  proposes  a 
device  for  the  public  good,  he  is  entitled  to  candid  and  pa- 
tient attention,  but  he  is  also  under  obligation  to  show  how 
he  expects  his  scheme  to  work,  what  forces  it  will  bring  into 
play,  how  it  will  use  them,  etc.  The  joint  stock  principle, 
credit  institutions,  cooperation,  and  all  similar  devices 
must  be  analyzed  and  the  explanation  of  their  advan- 
tage, if  they  offer  any,  must  be  sought  in  the  principles 
which  they  embody,  the  forces  they  employ,  the  suitable- 
ness of  their  apparatus.  We  ought  not  to  put  faith  in  any 
device  {e.g.,  bi-metalism,  socialism)  unless  the  proposers 
offer  an  explanation  of  it  which  will  bear  rigid  and  pitiless 
examination;  for,  if  it  is  a  sound  device,  such  examination 
will  only  produce  more  and  more  thorough  conviction  of 
its  merits.     I  shall  therefore  first  take  up  protectionism 


EXAMINED  ON  ITS  OWN  GROUNDS  25 

just  as  it  is  offered,  and  test  it,  as  any  candid  inquirer  might 
do,  to  see  whether,  as  it  is  presented  by  its  advocates,  it 
has  any  claims  to  confidence. 


Chapter  II 

PROTECTIONISM  EXAMINED  ON  ITS  OWN  GROUNDS 

20.  It  is  the  peculiar  irony  in  all  empirical  devices  in 
social  science  that  they  not  only  fail  of  the  effect  expected 
of  them,  but  that  they  produce  the  exact  opposite.  Paper 
money  is  expected  to  help  the  non-capitalist  and  the  debtor 
and  to  make  business  brisk.  It  ruins  the  non-capitalists 
and  the  debtors,  and  reduces  industry  and  commerce  to  a 
standstill.  Socialistic  devices  are  expected  to  bring  about 
equality  and  universal  happiness.  They  produce  despo- 
tism, favoritism,  inequality,  and  universal  misery.  The  de- 
vices are,  in  their  operation,  true  to  themselves.  They  act 
just  as  an  unprejudiced  examination  of  them  should  have 
led  any  one  to  expect  that  they  would  act,  or  just  as  a 
limited  experience  has  shown  that  they  must  act.  If  pro- 
tectionism is  only  another  case  of  the  same  kind,  an  ex- 
amination of  it  on  its  own  grounds  must  bring  out  the  fact 
that  it  will  issue  in  crippling  industry,  diminishing  capital, 
and  lowering  the  average  of  comfort.     Let  us  see. 

(A)  Assumptions  in  Protectionism. 

21.  Obviously  the  doctrine  includes  two  assumptions. 
The  first  is,  that  if  we  are  left  to  ourselves,  each  to  choose, 
under  liberty,  his  line  of  industrial  effort,  and  to  use  his 
labor  and  capital,  under  the  circumstances  of  the  country, 
as  best  he  can,  we  shall  fail  of  our  highest  prosperity. 
Secondly,  that,  if  Congress  will  only  tax  us  (properly)  we 
can  be  led  up  to  higher  prosperity.     Hence  it  is  at  once 


26    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

evident  that  free  trade  and  protection  here  are  not  on  a 
level.  No  free  trader  will  affirm  that  he  has  a  device  for 
making  the  country  rich,  or  saving  it  from  hard  times,  any 
more  than  a  respectable  physician  will  tell  us  that  he  can 
give  us  specifics  and  preventives  to  keep  us  well.  On  the 
contrary,  so  long  as  men  live  they  will  do  foolish  things, 
and  they  will  have  to  bear  the  penalty;  but  if  they  are  free, 
they  will  commit  only  the  follies  which  are  their  own,  and 
they  will  bear  the  penalties  only  of  those.  The  protection- 
ist begins  with  the  premise  that  we  shall  make  mistakes, 
and  that  is  why  he,  who  knows  how  to  make  us  go  right, 
proposes  to  take  us  in  hand.  He  is  like  the  doctor  who  can 
give  us  just  the  pill  we  need  to  "cleanse  our  blood"  and 
"ward  off  chills."  Hence  either  prosperity  in  a  free-trade 
country,  or  distress  in  a  protectionist  country,  is  fatal  to  pro- 
tectionism, while  distress  in  a  free-trade  country,  or  pros- 
perity in  a  protectionist  country  proves  nothing  against 
free  trade.  Hence  the  fallacy  of  all  Mr.  R.  P.  Porter's 
letters  is  obvious.     (§§  52,  92,  102,  154.) 

22.  The  device  by  which  we  are  to  be  made  better  than 
ourselves  is  to  select  some  of  ourselves,  who  certainly  are 
not  the  best  business  men  among  ourselves,  to  go  to  Wash- 
ington, and  there  turn  around  and  tax  ourselves  blindly, 
or,  if  not  blindly,  craftily  and  selfishly.  Surely  this  would 
be  the  triumph  of  stupidity  and  ignorance  over  intelligent 
knowledge,  enterprise  and  energy.  The  motive  which 
would  control  each  of  us,  if  we  were  free,  would  be  the  hope 
of  the  greatest  gain.  We  should  have  to  put  industry, 
prudence,  economy,  and  enterprise  into  our  business.  If 
we  failed,  it  would  be  through  error.  How  is  the  congres- 
sional interference  to  act.^^  How  is  it  to  meet  and  correct 
our  error?  It  can  appeal  to  no  other  motive  than  desire 
for  profit,  and  can  only  offer  us  a  profit  where  there  was 
none  before,  if  we  will  turn  out  of  the  industry  which  we 
have  selected,  into  one  which  we  do  not  know.     It  offers  a 


EXAMINED  ON   ITS  OWN   GROUNDS  27 

greater  profit  there  only  by  means  of  what  it  takes  from 
somebody  else  and  somewhere  else.  Or,  is  congressional 
interference  to  correct  the  errors  of  John,  James  and 
William,  and  to  make  the  idle,  industrious,  and  the  extrav- 
agant prudent?  Any  one  who  believes  it  must  believe 
that  the  welfare  of  mankind  is  not  dependent  on  the  reason 
and  conscience  of  the  interested  persons  themselves,  but  on 
the  caprices  of  blundering  ignorance,  embodied  in  a  selected 
few,  or  on  the  trickery  of  lobbyists,  acting  impersonally  and 
at  a  distance. 

(B)  Necessary  Conditions  of  Successful  Protective 

Legislation. 

23.  Suppose,  however,  that  it  were  true  that  Congress 
had  the  power  (by  some  exercise  of  the  taxing  function)  to 
influence  favorably  the  industrial  development  of  the 
country:  is  it  not  true  that  men  of  sense  would  demand  to 
be  satisfied  on  three  points,  as  follows? 

24.  (a)  If  Congress  can  do  this  thing,  and  is  going  to  try 
it,  ought  it  not,  in  order  to  succeed,  to  have  a  distinct  idea  of 
what  it  is  aiming  at  and  proposes  to  do?  Who  would  have 
confidence  in  any  man  who  should  set  out  on  an  enterprise 
and  who  did  not  satisfy  this  condition?  Has  Congress 
ever  satisfied  it?  Never.  They  have  never  had  any  plan 
or  purpose  in  their  tariff  legislation.  Congress  has  simply 
laid  itself  open  to  be  acted  upon  by  the  interested  parties, 
and  the  product  of  its  tariff  legislation  has  been  simply  the 
resultant  of  the  struggles  of  the  interested  cliques  with 
each  other,  and  of  the  log-rolling  combinations  which  they 
have  been  forced  to  make  among  themselves.  In  1882 
Congress  did  pay  some  deference,  real  or  pretended,  to  the 
plain  fact  that  it  was  bound,  if  it  exercised  this  mighty 
power  and  responsibility,  to  bring  some  intelligence  to 
bear  on  it,  and  it  appointed  a  Tariff  Commission  which 


28    THE  FORGOTTEN   MAN  AND 'OTHER  ESSAYS 

spent  several  months  in  collecting  evidence.  This  Com- 
mission was  composed,  with  one  exception,  of  protectionists. 
It  recommended  a  reduction  of  twenty-five  per  cent  in  the 
tariff,  and  said:  "Early  in  its  deliberations  the  Commission 
became  convinced  that  a  substantial  reduction  of  tariff  duties 
is  demanded,  not  by  a  mere  indiscriminate  popular  clamor, 
but  by  the  best  conservative  opinion  of  the  country." 
"Excessive  duties  are  positively  injurious  to  the  interests 
which  they  are  supposed  to  benefit.  They  encourage  the 
investment  of  capital  in  manufacturing  enterprises  by  rash 
and  unskilled  speculators,  to  be  followed  by  disaster  to  the 
adventurers  and  their  employees,  and  a  plethora  of  com- 
modities which  deranges  the  operations  of  skilled  and 
prudent  enterprise."  (§  111.)  This  report  was  entirely 
thrown  aside,  and  Congress,  ignoring  it  entirely,  began 
again  in  exactly  the  old  way.  The  Act  of  1883  was  not 
even  framed  by  or  in  Congress.  It  was  carried  out  into 
the  dark,  into  a  conference  committee,^  where  new  and 
gro'ss  abuses  were  put  into  the  bill  under  cover  of  a  pre- 
tended revision  and  reduction.  When  a  tariff  bill  is  be- 
fore Congress,  the  first  draft  starts  with  a  certain  rate  on  a 
certain  article,  say  twenty  per  cent.  It  is  raised  by  amend- 
ment to  fifty,  the  article  is  taken  into  a  combination  and 
the  rate  put  up  to  eighty  per  cent;  the  bill  is  sent  to  the 
other  house,  and  the  rate  on  this  article  cut  down  again  to 
forty  per  cent;  on  conference  between  the  two  houses  the 
rate  is  fixed  at  sixty  per  cent.  He  who  believes  in  the  pro- 
tectionist doctrine  must,  if  he  looks  on  at  that  proceeding, 
believe  that  the  prosperity  of  the  country  is  being  kicked 
around  the  floor  of  Congress,  at  the  mercy  of  the  chances 
which  are  at  last  to  determine  with  what  per  cent  of  tax 
these  articles  will  come  out.  And  what  is  it  that  determines 
with  what  tax  any  given  article  will  come  out.'*  Any  intelli- 
gent knowledge  of  industry?     Not  a  word  of  it.     Nothing 

1  Taussig:    "  ffistory  of  the  Existing  Tariff,"  78  ff. 


EXAMINED  ON   ITS  OWN  GROUNDS  29 

in  the  case  of  a  given  tax  on  a  given  article,  but  just  this: 
"Who  is  behind  it?"  The  history  of  tariff  legislation  by 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States  throws  a  light  upon  the 
protective  doctrine  which  is  partly  grotesque  and  partly 
revolting. 

25.  (6)  If  Congress  can  exert  the  supposed  beneficent  in- 
fluence on  industry,  ought  not  Congress  to  understand  the 
force  which  it  proposes  to  use?  Ought  it  not  to  have  some 
rules  of  protective  legislation  so  as  to  know  in  what  cases, 
within  what  limits,  under  what  conditions,  the  device  can 
be  effectively  used?  Would  that  not  be  a  reasonable  de- 
mand to  make  of  any  man  who  should  propose  a  device  for 
any  purpose?  Congress  has  never  had  any  knowledge  of 
the  way  in  which  the  taxes  which  it  passed  were  to  do  this 
beneficent  work.  It  has  never  had,  and  has  never  seemed 
to  think  that  it  needed  to  get,  any  knowledge  of  the  mode 
of  operation  of  protective  taxes.  It  passes  taxes,  as  big  as 
the  conflicting  interests  will  allow,  and  goes  home,  satisfied 
that  it  has  saved  the  country.  What  a  pity  that  philos- 
ophers, economists,  sages,  and  moralists  should  have  spent 
so  much  time  in  elucidating  the  conditions  and  laws  of 
human  prosperity!     Taxes  can  do  it  all. 

26.  (c)  If  Congress  can  do  what  is  affirmed  and  is  going 
to  try  it,  is  it  not  the  part  of  common  sense  to  demand  that 
some  tests  he  applied  to  the  experiment  after  a  few  years  to  see 
whether  it  is  really  doing  as  was  expected?  In  the  campaign 
of  1880  it  was  said  that  if  Hancock  was  elected  we  should 
have  free  trade,  wages  would  fall,  factories  would  be  closed, 
etc.  Hancock  was  not  elected,  we  did  not  get  any  reform 
of  the  tariff,  and  yet  in  1884  wages  were  falling,  factories 
were  closed,  and  all  the  other  direful  consequences  which 
were  threatened  had  come  to  pass.  Bradstreet's  made  in- 
vestigations in  the  winter  of  1884-1885  which  showed  that 
316,000  workmen,  thirteen  per  cent  of  the  number  employed 
in  manufacturing  in  1880,  were  out  of  work,  17,550  on  strike, 


30    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

and  that  wages  had  fallen  since  1882  from  ten  to  forty  per 
cent,  especially  in  the  leading  lines  of  manufacturing  which 
are  protected.  What  did  these  calamities  all  prove  then? 
If  we  had  had  any  revision  of  the  tariff,  should  we  not  have 
had  these  things  alleged  again  and  again  as  results  of  it? 
Did  they  not,  then,  in  the  actual  case,  prove  the  folly  of 
protection?  Oh,  no!  that  would  be  attacking  the  sacred 
dogma,  and  the  sacred  dogma  is  a  matter  of  faith,  so  that, 
as  it  never  had  smy  foundation  in  fact  or  evidence,  it  has 
just  as  much  after  the  experiment  has  failed  as  before  the 
experiment  was  made. 

27.  If,  now,  it  were  possible  to  devise  a  scheme  of  legisla- 
tion which  should,  according  to  protectionist  ideas,  be  just 
the  right  jacket  of  taxation  to  fit  this  country  to-day,  how 
long  would  it  fit?  Not  a  week.  Here  are  certain  millions 
of  people  on  three  and  a  half  million  square  miles  of  land. 
Every  day  new  lines  of  communication  are  opened,  new 
discoveries  made,  new  inventions  produced,  new  processes 
applied,  and  the  consequence  is  that  the  industrial  system 
is  in  constant  flux  and  change.  How,  if  a  correct  system 
of  protective  taxes  was  a  practicable  thing  at  any  given 
moment,  could  Congress  keep  up  with  the  changes  and 
readaptations  which  would  be  required?  The  notion  is 
preposterous,  and  it  is  a  monstrous  thing,  even  on  the  pro- 
tectionist hypothesis,  that  we  are  living  under  a  protective 
system  which  was  set  up  in  1864.  The  weekly  tariff  deci- 
sions by  the  treasury  department  may  be  regarded  as  the 
constant  attempts  that  are  required  to  fit  that  old  system 
to  present  circumstances,  and,  as  it  is  not  possible  that  new 
fabrics,  new  compounds,  and  new  processes  should  find  a 
place  in  schedules  which  were  made  twenty  years  before 
they  were  invented,  those  decisions  carry  with  them  the 
fate  of  scores  of  new  industries  which  figure  in  no  census, 
and  are  taken  into  account  by  no  congressman.  Therefore, 
even  if  we  believed  that  the  protective  doctrine  was  sound 


EXAMINED  ON  ITS  OWN   GROUNDS  31 

and  that  some  protective  system  was  beneficial,  and  that 
the  one  which  we  have  was  the  right  one  when  it  was 
made,  we  should  be  driven  to  the  conclusion  that  one  which 
is  twenty  years  old  is  sure  to  be  injurious  to-day. 

28.  There  is  nothing  then  in  the  legislative  machinery 
by  which  the  tariff  is  to  be  made  which  is  calculated  to  win 
the  confidence  of  a  man  of  sense,  but  everything  to  the  con- 
trary; and  the  experiments  of  such  legislation  which  have 
been  made  have  produced  nothing  but  warnings  against 
the  device.  Instead  of  offering  any  reasonable  ground  for 
belief  that  our  errors  will  be  corrected  and  our  productive 
powers  increased,  an  examination  of  the  tariff  as  a  piece  of 
legislation  offers  to  us  nothing  but  a  burden,  which  must 
cripple  any  economic  power  which  we  have. 

(C)  Examination  of  the  Means  Proposed, 
viz..  Taxes. 

29.  Every  tax  is  a  burden,  and  in  the  nature  of  the  case 
can  be  nothing  else.  In  mathematical  language,  every  tax 
is  a  quantity  affected  by  a  minus  sign.  If  it  gets  peace  and 
security,  that  is,  if  it  represses  crime  and  injustice  and  pre- 
vents discord,  which  would  be  economically  destructive, 
then  it  is  a  smaller  minus  quantity  than  the  one  which 
would  otherwise  be  there,  and  that  is  the  gain  by  good 
government.  Hence,  like  every  other  outlay  which  we 
make,  taxes  must  be  controlled  by  the  law  of  economy  — 
to  get  the  best  and  most  possible  for  the  least  expenditure. 
Instead  of  regarding  public  expenditure  carelessly,  we 
should  watch  it  jealously.  Instead  of  looking  at  taxation 
as  conceivably  a  good,  and  certainly  not  an  ill,  we  should 
regard  every  tax  as  on  the  defensive,  and  every  cent  of  tax 
as  needing  justification.  If  the  statesman  exacts  any 
more  than  is  necessary  to  pay  for  good  government  eco- 
nomically administered,  he  is  incompetent,  and  fails  in  his 


32    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

duty.  I  have  been  studying  political  economy  almost  ex- 
clusively for  the  last  fifteen  years,  and  when  I  look  back 
over  that  period  and  ask  myself  what  is  the  most  marked 
effect  which  I  can  perceive  on  my  own  opinion,  or  on  my 
standpoint,  as  to  social  questions,  I  find  that  it  is  this:  I 
am  convinced  that  nobody  yet  understands  the  multiplied 
and  complicated  effects  which  are  produced  by  taxation. 
I  am  under  the  most  profound  impression  of  the  mischief 
wliich  is  done  by  taxation,  reaching,  as  it  does,  to  every 
dinner-table  and  to  every  fireside.  The  effects  of  taxation 
vary  with  every  change  in  the  industrial  system  and  the  in- 
dustrial status,  and  they  are  so  complicated  that  it  is  im- 
possible to  follow,  analyze,  and  systematize  them;  but  out 
of  the  study  of  the  subject  there  arises  this  firm  convic- 
tion: taxation  is  crippling,  shortening,  reducing  all  the 
time,  over  and  over  again. 

30.  Suppose  that  a  man  has  an  income  of  one  thousand 
dollars,  of  which  he  has  been  saving  one  hundred  dollars 
per  annum  with  no  tax.  Now  a  tax  of  ten  dollars  is 
demanded  of  him,  no  matter  what  kind  of  a  tax  or  how 
laid.  Is  he  to  get  the  tax  out  of  the  nine  hundred  dollars 
expenditure  or  out  of  the  one  hundred  dollars  savings  .^^  If 
the  former,  then  he  must  cut  down  his  diet,  or  his  clothing, 
or  his  house  accommodation,  that  is,  lower  his  standard  of 
comfort.  If  the  latter,  then  he  must  lessen  his  accumula- 
tion of  capital,  that  is,  his  provision  for  the  future.  Either 
way  his  welfare  is  reduced  and  cannot  be  otherwise  affected, 
and,  through  the  general  effect,  the  welfare  of  the  com- 
munity is  reduced  by  the  tax.  Of  course  it  is  immaterial 
that  he  may  not  know  the  facts.  The  effects  are  the  same. 
In  this  view  of  the  matter  it  is  plain  what  mischief  is  done 
by  taxes  which  are  laid  to  buy  parks,  libraries,  and  all  sorts 
of  grand  things.  The  tax-layer  is  not  providing  public 
order.  He  is  spending  other  people's  earnings  for  them. 
He  is  deciding  that  his  neighbor  shall  have  less  clothes  and 


EXAMINED  ON  ITS  OWN  GROUNDS  33 

more  library  or  park.  But  when  we  come  to  protective 
taxes  the  abuse  is  monstrous.  The  legislator  who  has 
in  his  hands  this  power  of  taxation  uses  it  to  say  that 
one  citizen  shall  have  less  clothes  in  order  that  he  may 
contribute  to  the  profits  of  another  citizen's  private 
business. 

31.  Hence  if  we  look  at  the  nature  of  taxation,  and  if 
we  are  examining  protectionism  from  its  own  standpoint, 
under  the  assumption  that  it  is  true,  instead  of  finding  any 
confirmation  of  its  assumptions,  in  the  nature  of  the  means 
which  it  proposes  to  use,  we  find  the  contrary.  Granting 
that  people  make  mistakes  and  fail  of  the  highest  pros- 
perity which  they  might  win  when  they  act  freely,  we  see 
plainly  that  more  taxes  cannot  help  to  lift  them  up  or  to 
correct  their  errors;  on  the  contrary,  all  taxation,  beyond 
what  is  necessary  for  an  economical  administratioji  of  good 
government,  is  either  luxurious  or  wasteful,  and  if  such  taxa- 
tion could  tend  to  wealth,  waste  would  make  wealth. 

(D)  Examination  of  the  Plan  of  Mutual 
Taxation. 

32.  Suppose  then  that  the  industries  and  sections  all  be- 
gin to  tax  each  other  as  we  see  that  they  do  under  protec- 
tion. Is  it  not  plain  that  the  taxing  operation  can  do 
nothing  but  transfer  products,  never  by  any  possibility 
create  them?  The  object  of  the  protective  taxes  is  to  "ef- 
fect the  diversion  of  a  part  of  the  capital  and  labor  of  the 
country  from  the  channels  in  which  it  would  run  other- 
wise." To  do  this  it  must  find  a  fulcrum  or  point  of  re- 
action, or  it  can  exert  no  force  for  the  effect  it  desires.  The 
fulcrum  is  furnished  by  those  who  pay  the  tax.  Take  a 
case.  Pennsylvania  taxes  New  England  on  every  ton  of 
iron  and  coal  used  in  its  industries.  Ohio  taxes  New 
England  on  all  the  wool  obtained  from  that  state  for  its 


34    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

industries.^  New  England  taxes  Ohio  and  Pennsylvania  on 
all  the  cottons  and  woolens  which  it  sells  to  them.  What 
is  the  net  final  result.'^  It  is  mathematically  certain  that 
the  only  result  can  be  that  (1)  New  England  gets  back 
just  all  she  paid  (in  which  case  the  system  is  nil,  save  for 
the  expense  of  the  process  and  the  limitation  it  imposes  on 
the  industry  of  all),  or,  (2)  that  New  England  does  not  get 
back  as  much  as  she  paid  (in  which  case  she  is  tributary  to 
the  others),  or,  (3)  that  she  gets  back  more  than  she  paid 
(in  which  case  she  levies  tribute  on  them).  Yet,  on  the 
protectionist  notion,  this  system  extended  to  all  sections, 
and  embracing  all  industries,  is  the  means  of  producing 
national  prosperity.  When  it  is  all  done,  what  does  it 
amount  to  except  that  all  Americans  must  support  all 
Americans?  How  can  they  do  it  better  than  for  each  to 
support  himself  to  the  best  of  his  ability.'*  Then,  however, 
all  the  assumptions  of  protectionism  must  be  abandoned 
as  false. 

33.  In  1676  King  Charles  II  granted  to  his  natural  son, 
the  Duke  of  Richmond,  a  tax  of  a  shilling  a  chaldron  on 
all  the  coal  which  was  exported  from  the  Tyne.  We  re- 
gard such  a  grant  as  a  shocking  abuse  of  the  taxing  power. 
It  is,  however,  a  very  interesting  case  because  the  mine 
owner  and  the  tax  owner  were  two  separate  persons,  and 
the  tax  can  be  examined  in  all  its  separate  iniquity.  If, 
as  I  suppose  was  the  case,  the  Tyne  Valley  possessed  such 
superior  facilities  for  producing  coal  that  it  had  a  qualified 
monopoly,  the  tax  fell  on  the  coal  mine  owner  (landlord); 
that  is,  the  king  transferred  to  his  son  part  of  the  property 
which  belonged  to  the  Tyne  coal  owners.    In  that  view  the 

^  The  wool  growers  held  a  convention  at  St.  Louis  May  28,  1885,  at  which  they 
estimated  their  loss  by  the  reduction  of  the  tax  on  wool  in  1883,  or  the  difference 
between  what  they  got  by  this  tax  before  that  date  and  after,  at  ninety  million 
dollars  (New  York  Times,  May  29).  If  that  sum  is  what  they  lost,  it  is  what  the 
consumers  gained.  They  are  very  angry,  and  will  not  vote  for  any  one  who  will 
not  help  to  re-subject  the  consumers  to  this  tribute  to  them. 


EXAMINED  ON  ITS  OWN  GROUNDS  35 

case  may  come  home  to  some  of  our  protectionists  as  it 
would  not  if  the  tax  had  fallen  on  the  consumers.  If  Con- 
gress had  pensioned  General  Grant  by  giving  him  seventy- 
five  cents  a  ton  on  all  the  coal  mined  in  the  Lehigh  Valley, 
what  protests  we  should  have  heard  from  the  owners  of 
coal  lands  in  that  district!  If  the  king's  son,  however,  had 
owned  the  coal  mines,  and  worked  them  himself,  and  if  the 
king  had  said:  "I  will  authorize  you  to  raise  the  price  of 
your  coal  a  shilling  a  chaldron,  and,  to  enable  you  to  do  it, 
I  will  myself  tax  all  coal  but  yours  a  shilling  a  chaldron," 
then  the  de\'ice  would  have  been  modern  and  enlightened 
and  American.  We  have  done  just  that  on  emery,  copper, 
and  nickel.  Then  the  tax  comes  out  of  the  consumer. 
Then  it  is  not,  according  to  the  protectionist,  harmful,  but 
the  key  to  national  prosperity,  the  thing  which  corrects 
the  errors  of  our  incompetent  self-will,  and  leads  us  up 
to  better  organization  of  our  industry  than  we,  in  our 
unguided  stupidity,  could  have  made. 

(E)  Examination  of  the  Peoposal  to  *' Create  an 
Industry." 

34.  The  protectionist  says,  however,  that  he  is  going  to 
create  an  industry.  Let  us  examine  this  notion  also  from 
his  standpoint,  assuming  the  truth  of  his  doctrine,  and  see 
if  we  can  find  anything  to  deserve  confidence.  A  pro- 
tective tax,  according  to  the  protectionist's  definition  (§  13), 
"has  for  its  object  to  effect  the  diversion  of  a  part  of  the 
labor  and  capital  of  the  people  .  .  .  into  channels  favored  or 
created  by  law."  If  we  follow  out  this  proposal,  we  shall 
see  what  those  channels  are,  and  shall  see  whether  they 
are  such  as  to  make  us  believe  that  protective  taxes  can 
increase  wealth. 

35.  What  is  an  industry?  Some  people  will  answer:  It 
is  an  enterprise  which  gives  employment.     Protectionists 


36    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

seem  to  hold  this  view,  and  they  claim  that  they  "give 
work"  to  laborers  when  they  make  an  industry.  On  that 
notion  we  live  to  work;  we  do  not  work  to  live.  But  we 
do  not  want  work.  We  have  too  much  work.  We  want 
a  living;  and  work  is  the  inevitable  but  disagreeable  price 
we  must  pay.  Hence  we  want  as  much  living  at  as  little 
price  as  possible.  We  shall  see  that  the  protectionist  does 
"make  work"  in  the  sense  of  lessening  the  living  and  in- 
creasing the  price.  But  if  we  want  a  living  we  want  capital. 
If  an  industry  is  to  pay  wages,  it  must  be  backed  up  by 
capital.  Therefore  protective  taxes,  if  they  were  to  in- 
crease the  means  of  living,  would  need  to  increase  capital. 
How  can  taxes  increase  capital.'^  Protective  taxes  only 
take  from  A  to  give  to  B.  Therefore,  if  B  by  this  arrange- 
ment can  extend  his  industry  and  "give  more  employment," 
A's  power  to  do  the  same  is  diminished  in  at  least  an  equal 
degree.  Therefore,  even  on  that  erroneous  definition  of 
an  industry,  there  is  no  hope  for  the  protectionist. 

36.  An  industry  is  an  organization  of  labor  and  capital 
for  satisfying  some  need  of  the  community.  It  is  not  an  end 
in  itself.  It  is  not  a  good  thing  to  have  in  itself.  It  is 
not  a  toy  or  an  ornament.  If  we  could  satisfy  our  needs 
without  it  we  should  be  better  off,  not  worse  off.  How, 
then,  can  we  create  industries? 

37.  If  any  one  will  find,  in  the  soil  of  a  district,  some 
new  power  to  supply  human  needs,  he  can  endow  that 
district  with  a  new  industry.  If  he  will  invent  a  mode  of 
treating  some  natural  deposit,  ore  or  clay,  for  instance,  so 
as  to  provide  a  tool  or  utensil  which  is  cheaper  and  more 
convenient  than  what  is  in  use,  he  can  create  an  industry. 
If  he  will  find  out  some  new  and  better  way  to  raise  cattle 
or  vegetables,  which  is,  perhaps,  favored  by  the  climate, 
he  can  do  the  same.  If  he  invents  some  new  treatment  of 
wool,  or  cotton,  or  silk,  or  leather,  or  makes  a  new  com- 
bination which  produces  a  more  convenient  or  attractive 


EXAMINED  ON  ITS  OWN  GROUNDS  37 

fabric,  he  may  do  the  same.  The  telephone  is  a  new  in- 
dustry. What  measures  the  gain  of  it.'*  Is  it  the  "em- 
ployment" of  certain  persons  in  and  about  telephone 
offices?  The  gain  is  in  the  satisfaction  of  the  need  of  com- 
munication between  people  at  less  cost  of  time  and  labor. 
It  is  useless  to  multiply  instances.  It  can  be  seen  what 
it  is  to  "create  an  industry."  It  takes  brains  and  energy 
to  do  it.     How  can  taxes  do  it.f^ 

38.  Suppose  that  we  create  an  industry  even  in  this 
sense  —  What  is  the  gain  of  it?  The  people  of  Connecticut 
are  now  earning  their  living  by  employing  their  labor  and 
capital  in  certain  parts  of  the  industrial  organization. 
They  have  changed  their  "industries"  a  great  many  times. 
If  it  should  be  found  that  they  had  a  new  and  better  chance 
hitherto  undeveloped,  they  might  all  go  into  it.  To  do 
that  they  must  abandon  what  they  are  now  doing.  They 
would  not  change  unless  gains  to  be  made  in  the  new  in- 
dustry were  greater.  Hence  the  gain  is  the  difference  only 
between  the  profits  of  the  old  and  the  profits  of  the  new. 
The  protectionists,  however,  when  they  talk  about  "creat- 
ing an  industry,"  seem  to  suppose  that  the  total  profit  of 
the  industry  (and  some  of  them  seem  to  think  that  the  total 
expenditure  of  capital)  measures  their  good  work.  In  any 
case,  then,  even  of  a  true  and  legitimate  increase  of  in- 
dustrial power  and  opportunity,  the  only  gain  would  be  a 
margin.  But,  by  our  definition,  "a  protective  duty  has 
for  its  object  to  effect  the  diversion  of  a  part  of  the  capital 
and  labor  of  the  people  out  of  the  channels  in  which  it  would 
otherwise  run."  Plainly  this  device  involves  coercion. 
People  would  need  no  coercion  to  go  into  a  new  industry 
which  had  a  natural  origin  in  new  industrial  power  or  op- 
portunity. No  coercion  is  necessary  to  make  men  buy 
dollars  at  ninety -eight  cents  apiece.  The  case  for  coercion 
is  when  it  is  desired  to  make  them  buy  dollars  at  one 
hundred  and  one  cents  apiece.    Here  the  statesman  with  his 


38    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

taxing  power  is  needed,  and  can  do  something.  What? 
He  can  say:  "If  you  will  buy  a  dollar  at  one  hundred 
and  one  cents,  I  can  and  will  tax  John  over  there  two 
cents  for  your  benefit;  one  to  make  up  your  loss  and  the 
other  to  give  you  a  profit."  Hence,  on  the  protectionist'' s 
own  doctrine,  his  device  is  not  needed,  and  cannot  come 
into  use,  when  a  new  industry  is  created  in  the  true  and 
only  reasonable  sense  of  the  words,  but  only  when  and 
because  he  is  determined  to  drive  the  labor  and  capital  of 
the  country  into  a  disadvantageous  and  wasteful  employment. 

39.  Still  further,  it  is  obvious  that  the  protectionist, 
instead  of  "creating  a  new  industry,"  has  simply  taken  one 
industry  and  set  it  as  a  parasite  to  live  upon  another.  In- 
dustry is  its  own  reward.  A  man  is  not  to  be  paid  a  pre- 
mium by  his  neighbors  for  earning  his  own  living.  A 
factory,  an  insane  asylum,  a  school,  a  church,  a  poorhouse, 
and  a  prison  cannot  be  put  in  the  same  economic  category. 
We  know  that  the  community  must  be  taxed  to  support 
insane  asylums,  poorhouses,  and  jails.  When  we  come 
upon  such  institutions  we  see  them  with  regret.  They  are 
wasting  capital.  We  know  that  the  industrious  people  all 
about,  who  are  laboring  and  producing,  must  part  with  a 
portion  of  their  earnings  to  supply  the  waste  and  loss  of 
these  institutions.  Hence  the  bigger  they  are  the  sadder  they 
are. 

40.  As  for  the  schools  and  churches,  we  know  that 
society  must  pay  for  and  keep  up  its  own  conservative  in- 
stitutions. They  cost  capital  and  do  not  pay  back  capital 
directly,  although  they  do  indirectly,  and  in  the  course  of 
time,  in  ways  which  we  could  trace  out  and  verify  if  that 
were  our  subject.  Here,  then,  we  have  a  second  class  of 
institutions. 

41.  But  the  factories  and  farms  and  foundries  are  the 
productive  institutions  which  must  provide  the  support  of 
these  consuming   institutions.     If   the  factories,   etc.,   put 


EXAMINED  ON  ITS  OWN  GROUNDS  39 

themselves  on  a  Kne  with  the  poorhouses,  or  even  with  the 
schools,  what  is  to  support  them  and  all  the  rest  too? 
They  have  nothing  behind  them.  If  in  any  measure  or 
way  they  turn  into  burdens  and  objects  of  care  and  pro- 
tection, they  can  plainly  do  it  only  by  part  of  them  turn- 
ing upon  the  other  part,  and  this  latter  part  will  have  to 
bear  the  burden  of  all  the  consuming  institutions,  including 
the  consuming  industries.  For  a  protected  factory  is  not  a 
producing  industry.  It  is  a  consuming  industry!  If  a 
factory  is  (as  the  protectionist  alleges)  a  triumph  of  the 
tariff,  that  is,  if  it  would  not  be  but  for  the  tariff  (and  other- 
wise he  has  nothing  to  do  with  it),  then  it  is  not  producing; 
it  is  consuming.  It  is  a  burden  to  be  borne.  The  bigger  it 
is  the  sadder  it  is. 

42.  If  a  protectionist  shows  me  a  woolen  mill  and  chal- 
lenges me  to  deny  that  it  is  a  great  and  valuable  industry, 
I  ask  him  whether  it  is  due  to  the  tariff.  If  he  says  "no,'* 
then  I  will  assume  that  it  is  an  independent  and  profitable 
establishment,  but  in  that  case  it  is  out  of  this  discussion  as 
much  as  a  farm  or  a  doctor's  practice.  If  he  says  "yes," 
then  I  answer  that  the  mill  is  not  an  industry  at  all.  We 
pay  sixty  per  cent  tax  on  cloth  simply  in  order  that  that  mill 
may  be.  It  is  not  an  institution  for  getting  us  cloth,  for  if 
we  went  into  the  market  with  the  same  products  which  we 
take  there  now  and  if  there  were  no  woolen  mill,  we  should 
get  all  the  cloth  we  want.  The  mill  is  simply  an  institu- 
tion for  making  cloth  cost  per  yard  sixty  per  cent  more  of 
our  products  than  it  otherwise  would.  That  is  the  one  and 
only  function  which  the  mill  has  added,  by  its  existence, 
to  the  situation.  I  have  called  such  a  factory  a  "nuisance." 
The  word  has  been  objected  to.  The  word  is  of  no  con- 
sequence. He  who,  when  he  goes  into  a  debate,  begins  to 
whine  and  cry  as  soon  as  the  blows  get  sharp,  should  learn 
to  keep  out.  WTiat  I  meant  was  this:  A  nuisance  is  some- 
thing which  by  its  existence  and  presence  in  society  works 


40    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

loss  and  damage  to  the  society  —  works  against  the  gen- 
eral interest,  not  for  it.  A  factory  which  gets  in  the  way 
and  hinders  us  from  attaining  the  comforts  which  we  are 
all  trying  to  get  —  which  makes  harder  the  terms  of  ac- 
quisition when  we  are  all  the  time  struggling  by  our  arts 
and  sciences  to  make  those  terms  easier  —  is  a  harmful 
thing,  and  noxious  to  the  common  interest. 

43.  Hence,  once  more,  starting  from  the  protectionist's 
hypothesis,  and  assuming  his  own  doctrine,  we  find  that  he 
cannot  create  an  industry.  He  only  fixes  one  industry  as 
a  parasite  upon  another,  and  just  as  certainly  as  he  has  in- 
tervened in  the  matter  at  all,  just  so  certainly  has  he  forced 
labor  and  capital  into  less  favorable  employment  than  they 
would  have  sought  if  he  had  let  them  alone.  When  we 
ask  which  "channels"  those  are  which  are  to  be  "favored 
or  created  by  law,"  we  find  that  they  are,  by  the  hypothesis, 
and  by  the  whole  logic  of  the  protectionist  system,  the  in- 
dustries which  do  not  pay.  The  protectionists  propose  to 
make  the  country  rich  by  laws  which  shall  favor  or  create 
these  industries,  but  these  industries  can  only  waste  capital, 
so  that  if  they  are  the  source  of  wealth,  waste  is  the  source 
of  wealth.  Hence  the  protectionist's  assumption  that  by 
his  system  he  could  correct  our  errors  and  lead  us  to  greater 
prosperity  than  we  would  have  obtained  under  liberty,  has 
failed  again,  and  we  find  that  he  wastes  what  power  we  do 
possess. 

(F)   Examination   of  the  Proposal   to   Develop  our 
Natural  Resources. 

44.  "But,"  says  the  protectionist,  "do  you  mean  to  say 
that,  if  we  have  an  iron  deposit  in  our  soil,  it  is  not  wise 
for  us  to  open  and  work  it.'*"  "You  mean,  no  doubt,"  I 
reply,  "open  and  work  it  under  protective  help  and  stimulus; 
for,  if  there  is  an  iron  deposit,  the  United  States  does  not 


EXAMINED  ON  ITS  OWN  GROUNDS  41 

own  it.  Some  man  owns  it.  If  he  wants  to  open  and 
work  it,  we  have  nothing  to  do  but  wish  him  God-speed." 
"Very  well,"  he  says,  "understand  it  that  he  needs  pro- 
tection." Let  us  examine  this  case,  then,  and  still  we  will 
do  it  assuming  the  truth  of  the  protectionist  doctrine. 
Let  us  see  where  we  shall-  come  out. 

The  man  who  has  discovered  iron  (on  the  protectionist 
doctrine),  when  there  is  no  tax,  does  not  collect  tools  and 
laborers  and  go  to  work.  He  goes  to  Washington.  He 
visits  the  statesman,  and  a  dialogue  takes  place. 

Iron  man.  —  "Mr.  Statesman,  I  have  found  an  iron  de- 
posit on  my  farm." 

Statesman.  —  "Have  you,  indeed.'^  That  is  good  news. 
Our  country  is  richer  by  one  new  natural  resource  than  we 
have  supposed." 

Iron  man.  —  "Yes,  and  I  now  want  to  begin  mining 
iron." 

Statesman. —  "Very  well,  go  on.  We  shall  be  glad  to 
hear  that  you  are  prospering  and  getting  rich." 

Iron  man.  —  "Yes,  of  course.  But  I  am  now  earning 
my  living  by  tilling  the  surface  of  the  ground,  and  I  am 
afraid  that  I  cannot  make  as  much  at  mining  as  at  farming." 

Statesman.  —  "That  is  indeed  another  matter.  Look 
into  that  carefullj'^  and  do  not  leave  a  better  industry  for  a 
worse." 

Iron  man.  —  "But  I  want  to  mine  that  iron.  It  does 
not  seem  right  to  leave  it  in  the  ground  when  we  are  im- 
porting iron  all  the  time,  but  I  cannot  see  as  good  profits 
in  it  at  the  present  price  for  imported  iron  as  I  am  making 
out  of  what  I  raise  on  the  surface.  I  thought  that  per- 
haps you  would  put  a  tax  on  all  the  imported  iron  so  that 
I  could  get  more  for  mine.  Then  I  could  see  my  way  to 
give  up  farming  and  go  to  mining." 

Statesman.  —  "You  do  not  think  what  you  ask.  That 
would  be  authorizing  you  to  tax  your  neighbors,  and  would 


42    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

be  throwing  on  them  the  risk  of  working  your  mine,  which 
you  are  afraid  to  take  yourself." 

Iron  man  (aside).  —  "I  have  not  talked  the  right  dialect 
to  this  man.  I  must  begin  all  over  again.  (AJoud.)  Mr. 
Statesman,  the  natural  resources  of  this  continent  ought  to 
be  developed.  American  industry  must  be  protected. 
The  American  laborer  must  not  be  forced  to  compete  with 
the  pauper  labor  of  Europe." 

Statesman.  —  "Now  I  understand  you.  Now  you  talk 
business.  Why  did  you  not  say  so  before?  How  much 
tax  do  you  want?" 

The  next  time  that  a  buyer  of  pig  iron  goes  to  market 
to  get  some,  he  finds  that  it  costs  thirty  bushels  of  wheat 
per  ton  instead  of  twenty. 

"What  has  happened  to  pig  iron?"  says  he. 

"Oh!  haven't  you  heard?"  is  the  reply.  "A  new  mine 
has  been  found  down  in  Pennsylvania.  We  have  got  a 
new  'natural  resource.'" 

"I  haven't  got  a  new  'natural  resource,'  "  says  he.  "It 
is  as  bad  for  me  as  if  the  grasshoppers  had  eaten  up  one- 
third  of  my  crop." 

45.  That  is  just  exactly  the  significance  of  a  new  re- 
source on  the  protectionist  doctrine.  We  had  the  mis- 
fortune to  find  emery  here.  At  once  a  tax  was  put  on  it 
which  made  it  cost  more  wheat,  cotton,  tobacco,  petro- 
leum, or  personal  services  per  pound  than  ever  before.  A 
new  calamity  befell  us  when  we  found  the  richest  copper 
mines  in  the  world  in  our  territory.  From  that  time  on  it 
cost  us  five  (now  four)  cents  a  pound  more  than  before. 
By  another  catastrophe  we  found  a  nickel  mine  —  thirty 
cents  (now  fifteen)  a  pound  tax!  Up  to  this  time  we  have 
had  all  the  tin  that  we  wanted  above  ground,  because 
beneficent  nature  has  refrained  from  putting  any  under- 
ground in  om*  territory.  In  the  metal  schedule,  where  the 
metals   which    we   unfortunately   possess   are   taxed   from 


EXAJVIINED  ON  ITS  OWN  GROUNDS  43 

forty  to  sixty  per  cent,  tin  alone  is  free.  Every  little  while 
a  report  is  started  that  tin  has  been  found.  Hitherto  these 
reports  have  happily  all  proved  false.  It  is  now  said  that 
tin  has  been  found  in  West  Virginia  and  Dakotah.  We 
have  reason  devoutly  to  hope  that  this  may  prove  false, 
for,  if  it  should  prove  true,  no  doubt  the  next  thing  will 
be  forty  per  cent  tax  on  tin.  The  mine-owners  say  that 
they  want  to  exploit  the  mine.  They  do  not.  They  want 
to  make  the  mine  an  excuse  to  exploit  the  taxpayers. 

46.  Therefore,  when  the  protectionist  asks  whether  we 
ought  not  by  protective  taxes  to  force  the  development  of 
our  own  iron  mines,  the  answer  is  that,  on  his  own  doctrine, 
he  has  developed  a  new  philosophy,  hitherto  unknowTi,  by 
which  "natural  resources"  become  national  calamities,  and 
the  more  a  country  is  endowed  by  nature  the  worse  off  it 
is.  Of  course,  if  the  wise  philosophy  is  not  simply  to  use, 
with  energy  and  prudence,  all  the  natural  opportunities 
which  we  possess,  but  to  seek  "channels  favored  or  created 
by  law,"  then  this  view  of  natural  resources  is  perfectly 
consistent  with  that  philosophy,  for  it  is  simply  saying 
over  again  that  waste  is  the  key  0/  wealth. 

(G)  -Examination  of  the  Proposal  to   Raise  W^ages. 

47.  "But,"  he  says  again,  "we  want  to  raise  wages  and 
favor  the  poor  working  man."  "Do  you  mean  to  say,'* 
I  reply,  "that  protective  taxes  raise  wages  —  that  that  is 
their  regular  and  constant  effect.^"  "Yes,"  he  replies, 
"that  is  just  what  they  do,  and  that  is  why  we  favor  them. 
We  are  the  poor  man's  friends.  You  free-traders  want  to 
reduce  him  to  the  level  of  the  pauper  laborers  of  Europe." 
"But  here,  in  the  evidence  offered  at  the  last  tariff  dis- 
cussion in  Congress,  the  employers  all  said  that  they  wanted 
the  taxes  to  protect  them  because  they  had  to  pay  such 
high  wages."     "Well,  so  they  do."     "Well  then,  if  they 


44    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

get  the  taxes  raised  to  help  them  out  when  they  have  high 
wages  to  pay,  how  are  the  taxes  going  to  help  them  any 
unless  the  taxes  lower  wages?  But  you  just  said  that 
taxes  raise  wages.  Therefore,  if  the  employer  gets  the 
taxes  raised,  he  will  no  sooner  get  home  from  Washington 
than  he  will  find  that  the  very  taxes  which  he  has  just 
secured  have  raised  wages.  Then  he  must  go  back  to 
Washington  to  get  the  taxes  raised  to  offset  that  advance, 
and  when  he  gets  home  again  he  will  find  that  he  has  only 
raised  wages  more,  and  so  on  forever.  You  are  trying  to 
teach  the  man  to  raise  himself  by  his  boot  straps.  Two 
of  your  propositions  brought  together  eat  each  other." 

48.  We  will,  however,  pursue  the  protectionist  doctrine 
of  wages  a  little  further.  It  is  totally  false  that  protective 
taxes  raise  wages.  As  I  will  show  further  on  (§91  and 
following),  protective  taxes  lower  wages.  Now,  however, 
I  am  assuming  the  protectionist's  own  premises  and  doc- 
trines all  the  time.  He  says  that  his  system  raises  wages. 
Let  us  go  to  see  some  of  the  wages  class  and  get  some  evi- 
dence on  this  point.  We  will  take  three  wage-workers,  a 
boot  man,  a  hat  man,  and  a  cloth  man.  First  we  ask  the 
boot  man,  "Do  you  win  anything  by  this  tariff. J^"  "Yes," 
he  says,  "I  understand  that  I  do."  "How?"  "  W^ell,  the 
way  they  explain  it  to  me  is  that  when  anybody  wants 
boots  he  goes  to  my  boss,  pays  him  more  on  account  of 
the  tax,  and  my  boss  gives  me  part  of  it."  "All  right! 
Then  your  comrades  here,  the  hat  man  and  the  cloth  man, 
pay  this  tax  in  which  you  share?"  "Yes,  I  suppose  so. 
I  never  thought  of  that  before.  I  supposed  that  rich 
people  paid  the  taxes,  but  I  suppose  that  when  they  buy 
boots  they  must  do  it  too."  "And  when  you  want  a  hat 
you  go  and  pay  the  tax  on  hats,  part  of  which  (as  you  ex- 
plain the  system)  goes  to  your  friend  the  hat  man;  and 
when  you  want  cloth  you  pay  the  tax  which  goes  to  bene- 
fit your  friend  the  cloth  man?"     "I  suppose  that  it  must 


EXAMINED  ON  ITS  OWN  GROUNDS  45 

be  so."  We  go,  then,  to  see  the  hat  man  and  have  the 
same  conversation  with  him,  and  we  go  to  see  the  cloth 
man  and  have  the  same  conversation  with  him.  Each  of 
them  then  gets  two  taxes  and  pays  two  taxes.  Three  men 
illustrate  the  whole  case.  If  we  should  take  a  thousand 
men  in  a  thousand  industries  we  should  find  that  each  paid 
nine  hundred  and  ninety-nine  taxes,  and  each  got  nine  hun- 
dred and  ninety-nine  taxes,  if  the  system  worked  as  it  is 
said  to  work.  What  is  the  upshot  of  the  whole  .^^  Either 
they  all  come  out  even  on  their  taxes  paid  and  received,  or 
some  of  the  wage  receivers  are  winning  something  out  of  other 
wage  receivers  to  the  net  detriment  of  the  whole  class.  If  each 
man  is  creditor  for  nine  hundred  and  ninety-nine  taxes,  and 
each  debtor  for  nine  hundred  and  ninety-nine  taxes,  and  if 
the  system  is  "universal  and  equal,"  we  can  save  trouble 
by  each  drawing  nine  hundred  and  ninety-nine  orders  on 
the  creditors  to  pay  to  themselves  their  own  taxes,  and 
we  can  set  up  a  clearing  house  to  wipe  off  all  the  accounts. 
Then  we  come  down  to  this  as  the  net  result  of  the  system 
when  it  is  "universal  and  equal,"  that  each  man  as  a  con- 
sumer pays  taxes  to  himself  as  a  producer.  That  is  what 
is  to  make  us  all  rich.  We  can  accomplish  it  just  as  well 
and  far  more  easily,  when  we  get  up  in  the  morning,  by 
transferring  our  cash  from  one  pocket  to  the  other. 

49.  One  point,  however,  and  the  most  important  of  all, 
remains  to  be  noticed.  How  about  the  thousandth  tax.'* 
How  is  it  when  the  boot  man  wants  boots,  and  the  hat 
man  hats,  and  the  cloth  man  cloth?  He  has  to  go  to  the 
store  on  the  street  and  buy  of  his  own  boss,  at  the  market 
price  (tax  on),  the  very  things  which  he  made  himself  in 
the  shop.  He  then  pays  the  tax  to  his  own  employer,  and 
the  employer,  according  to  the  doctrine,  "shares"  it  with 
him.  WHiere  is  the  offset  to  that  part  which  the  employer 
keeps.?  There  is  none.  The  wages  class,  even  on  the  pro- 
tectionist explanation,  may  give  or  take  from  each  other, 


46    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

but  to  their  own  employers  they  give  and  take  not.  At 
election  time  the  boss  calls  them  in  and  tells  them  that 
they  must  vote  for  protection  or  he  must  shut  up  the  shop, 
and  that  they  ought  to  vote  for  protection,  because  it  makes 
their  wages  high.  If,  then,  they  believe  in  the  system, 
just  as  it  is  taught  to  them,  they  must  believe  that  it  causes 
him  to  pay  them  big  wages,  out  of  which  they  pay  back  to 
him  big  taxes,  out  of  which  he  pays  them  a  fraction  back 
again,  and  that,  but  for  this  arrangement,  the  business  could 
not  go  on  at  all.  A  little  reflection  shows  that  this  just 
brings  up  the  question  for  a  wage-earner:  How  much  can  I 
afford  to  pay  my  boss  for  hiring  me?  or,  again,  which  is  just 
the  same  thing  in  other  words:  What  is  the  net  reduction  of 
my  wages,  below  the  market  rate  under  freedom,  which  results 
from  this  system?  (See  §  65.) 

50.  Let  it  not  be  forgotten  that  this  result  is  reached  by 
accepting  protectionism  and  reasoning  forward  from  its 
doctrines  and  according  to  its  principles.  In  truth,  the 
employees  get  no  share  in  any  taxes  which  the  boss  gets  out 
of  them  and  others  (see  §  91  ff .  for  the  truth  about  wages). 
Of  course,  when  this  or  any  other  subject  is  thoroughly 
analyzed,  it  makes  no  difference  where  we  begin  or  what 
line  we  follow,  we  shall  always  reach  the  same  result  if  the 
result  is  correct.  If  we  accept  the  protectionist's  own  ex- 
planation of  the  way  in  which  protection  raises  wages  we 
find  that  it  proves  that  protection  lowers  wages. 

(H)  Examination  of  the  Proposal  to  Prevent 
Competition  by  Foreign  Pauper  Labor. 

51.  The  protectionist  says  that  he  does  not  want  the 
American  laborer  to  compete  with  the  foreign  "pauper 
laborer"  (see  §  99).  He  assumes,  that  if  the  foreign  laborer 
is  a  woolen  operative,  the  only  American  who  may  have  to 
compete  with  him  is  a  woolen  operative  here.     His  device 


EXAMINED  ON  ITS  OWN  GROUNDS  47 

for  saving  our  operatives  from  the  assumed  competition  is 
to  tax  the  American  cotton  or  wheat  grower  on  the  cloth 
he  wears,  to  make  up  and  offset  to  the  woolen  operative 
the  disadvantage  under  which  he  labors.  If  then,  the  case 
were  true  as  the  protectionist  states  it,  and  if  his  remedy 
were  correct,  he  would,  when  he  had  finished  his  operation, 
simply  have  allowed  the  American  woolen  operative  to 
escape,  by  transferring  to  the  American  cotton  or  wheat 
grower  the  evil  results  of  competition  with  "foreign  pauper 
labor." 


(7)  Examination  of  the  Proposal  to  raise  the 
Standard  of  Public  Comfort. 

52.  But  the  protectionist  reiterates  that  he  wants  to 
make  our  people  well  off,  and  to  diffuse  general  prosperity, 
and  he  says  that  his  system  does  this.  He  says  that  the 
country  has  prospered  under  protection  and  on  account  of 
it.  He  brings  from  the  census  the  figures  for  increased 
wealth  of  the  country,  and,  to  speak  of  no  minor  errors, 
draws  an  inference  that  we  have  prospered  more  than  we 
should  have  done  under  free  trade,  which  is  what  he  has  to 
prove,  without  noticing  that  the  second  term  of  the  com- 
parison is  absent  and  unattainable.  In  the  same  manner 
I  once  heard  a  man  argue  from  statistics,  who  showed  by 
the  small  loss  of  a  city  by  fire  that  its  fire  department  cost 
too  much.  I  asked  him  if  he  had  any  statistics  of  the  fires 
which  we  should  have  had  but  for  the  fire  department 
(see  §  102). 

53.  The  people  of  the  United  States  have  inherited  an 
untouched  continent.  The  now  living  generation  is  prac- 
ticing bonanza  farming  on  prairie  soil  which  has  never 
borne  a  crop.  The  population  is  only  fifteen  to  the  square 
mile.  The  population  of  England  and  Wales  is  four  hun- 
dred and  forty-six  to  the  square  mile;   that  of  the  British 


48    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

Islands  two  hundred  and  ninety;  that  of  Belgium  four 
hundred  and  eighty-one;  of  France  one  hundred  and 
eighty;  of  Germany  two  hundred  and  sixteen.  Bateman  ^ 
estimates  that  in  the  better  part  of  England  or  Wales  a 
peasant  proprietor  would  need  from  four  and  a  half  to  six 
acres,  and,  in  the  worse  part,  from  nine  to  forty-five  acres 
on  which  to  support  "a  healthy  family."  The  soil  of 
England  and  Wales,  equally  divided  between  the  families 
there,  would  give  only  seven  acres  apiece.  The  land  of 
the  United  States,  equally  divided  between  the  families 
there,  would  give  two  hundred  and  fifteen  acres  apiece. 
These  old  nations  give  us  the  other  term  of  the  comparison 
by  which  we  measure  our  prosperity.  They  have  a  dense 
population  on  a  soil  which  has  been  used  for  thousands  of 
years;  we  have  an  extremely  sparse  population  on  a  virgin 
soil.  We  have  an  excellent  climate,  mountains  full  of 
coal  and  ore,  natural  highways  on  the  rivers  and  lakes,  and 
a  coast  indented  with  sounds,  bays,  and  some  of  the  best 
harbors  in  the  world.  We  have  also  a  population  of  good 
national  character,  especially  as  regards  the  economic  and 
industrial  virtues.  The  sciences  and  arts  are  highly  culti- 
vated among  us,  and  our  institutions  are  the  best  for  the 
development  of  economic  strength.  As  compared  with  old 
nations  we  are  prosperous.  Now  comes  the  protectionist 
statesman  and  says:  "The  things  which  you  have  enu- 
merated are  not  the  causes  of  our  comparative  prosperity. 
Those  things  are  all  vain.  Our  prosperity  is  not  due  to 
them.     I  made  it  with  my  taxes." 

54.  (a)  In  the  first  place  the  fact  is  that  we  surpass  most 
in  prosperity  those  nations  which  are  most  like  us  in  their 
tax  systems,  and  those  compared  with  whom  our  prosperity 
is  least  remarkable  are  those  which  have  by  free  trade  offset 
as  much  as  possible  the  disadvantage  of  age  and  dense 
population.     Since,    then,    we   find   greatest    difference   in 

^  Broderick,  "  English  Land  and  English  Landlords,"  p.  194. 


EXAMINED  ON  ITS  OWN  GROUNDS  49 

prosperity  with  least  difference  in  tax,  and  least  diflFerence 
in  prosperity  with  greatest  difference  in  tax,  we  cannot  re- 
gard tax  as  a  cause  of  prosperity,  but  as  an  obstacle  to  pros- 
perity which  must  have  been  overcome  by  some  stronger 
cause.  That  such  is  the  case  lies  plainly  on  the  face  of  the 
facts.  The  prosperity  which  we  enjoy  is  the  prosperity 
which  God  and  nature  have  given  us  minus  what  the  legis- 
lator has  taken  from  it. 

55.  (b)  We  prospered  with  slavery  just  as  we  have  pros- 
pered with  protection.  The  argument  that  the  former  was 
a  cause  would  be  just  as  strong  as  the  argument  that  the 
lattei^  is  a  cause, 

56.  (c)  The  protectionists  take  to  themselves  as  a  credit 
all  the  advance  in  the  arts  of  the  last  twenty-five  years, 
because  they  have  not  entirely  offset  it  and  destroyed  it. 

57.  (d)  The  protectionists  claim  that  they  have  increased 
our  wealth.  All  the  wealth  that  is  produced  must  be  pro- 
duced by  labor  and  capital  applied  to  land.  The  people 
have  wrought  and  produced.  The  tax  gatherer  has  only 
subtracted  something.  Whether  he  used  what  he  took  well 
or  ill,  he  subtracted.  He  could  not  do  anything  else. 
Therefore,  whatever  wealth  we  see  about  us,  and  whatever 
wealth  appears  in  the  census  is  what  the  people  have  pro- 
duced, Ze^s  what  the  tax  gatherer  has  taken  out  of  it. 

58.  (e)  If  the  members  of  Congress  can  establish  for  them- 
selves some  ideal  of  the  grade  of  comfort  which  the  average 
American  citizen  ought  to  enjoy,  and  then  just  get  it  for 
him,  they  have  used  their  power  hitherto  in  a  very  beggarly 
manner.  For,  although  the  average  status  of  our  people  is 
high  when  compared  with  that  of  other  people  on  the  globe, 
nevertheless,  when  compared  with  any  standard  of  ideal 
comfort,  it  leaves  much  to  be  desired.  If  Congress  has 
the  power  supposed,  they  surely  ought  not  to  measure  the 
exercise  of  it  by  only  making  us  better  off  than  Europeans. 

59.  (/)   During  the  late  presidential  campaign  the  pro- 


50    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

tectionist  orators  assured  the  people  that  they  meant  to 
make  everybody  well  off,  that  they  wished  our  people  to 
be  prosperous,  contented,  etc.  I  wish  so  too.  I  wish  that 
all  my  readers  may  be  millionaires.  I  freely  and  sincerely 
confer  on  them  all  the  bounty  of  my  good  wishes.  They 
will  not  find  a  cent  more  in  their  pockets  on  that  account. 
The  congressmen  have  no  power  to  bless  my  readers  which 
I  have  not,  save  one;   that  is,  the  power  to  tax  them. 

60.  (g)  If  the  congressmen  are  determined  to  elevate  the 
comfort  of  the  population  by  taxing  the  population,  then 
every  new  ship  load  of  immigrants  must  be  regarded  as  a 
new  body  of  persons  whom  we  must  "elevate"  by  the 
taxes  we  have  to  pay.  It  is  said  that  an  Irishman  affirmed 
that  a  dollar  in  America  would  not  buy  more  than  a  shilling 
in  Ireland.  He  was  asked  why  then  he  did  not  stay  in 
Ireland.  He  replied  that  it  was  because  he  could  not  get 
the  shilling  there.  That  is  a  good  story,  only  it  stops  just 
where  it  ought  to  begin.  The  next  question  is:  How  does 
he  get  the  dollar  when  he  comes  to  America?  The  pro- 
tectionist wants  us  to  suppose  that  he  gets  it  by  grace  of 
the  tariff.  If  so  he  gets  it  out  of  those  who  were  here  be- 
fore he  came.  But  plainly  no  such  thing  is  true.  He  gets 
it  by  earning  it,  and  he  adds  two  dollars  to  the  wealth  of 
the  country  while  earning  it.  The  only  thing  the  tariff 
does  in  regard  to  it  is  to  lower  the  purchasing  power  of  the 
dollar,  if  it  is  spent  for  products  of  manufacture,  to  seventy 
cents. 

61.  Here,  again,  then,  we  find  that  protective  taxes,  if 
they  do  just  what  the  protectionist  says  that  they  will  do, 
produce  the  very  opposite  effects  from  those  which  he  says 
they  will  produce.  They  lessen  wealth,  reduce  prosperity, 
diminish  average  comfort,  and  lower  the  standard  of  living. 
(See  §  30.) 


PROTECTIONISM  EXAMINED  ADVERSELY        51 
Chapter  III 

PROTECTIONISM  EXAMINED  AD\'ERSELY 

62.  I  have  so  far  examined  protectionism  as  a  philosophy 
of  national  wealth,  assuming  and  accepting  its  own  doc- 
trines, and  following  them  out,  to  see  if  they  will  issue  as 
is  claimed.  We  have  found  that  they  do  not,  but  that  pro- 
tectionism, on  its  own  doctrines,  issues  in  the  impoverish- 
ment of  the  nation  and  in  failure  to  do  anything  which  it 
claims  to  do.  On  the  contrary,  an  examination  in  detail 
of  its  means,  methods,  purposes,  and  plans  shows  that  it 
must  produce  waste  and  loss,  so  that  if  it  were  true,  we 
should  have  to  believe  that  waste  and  loss  are  means  of  wealth. 
Now  I  turn  about  to  attack  it  in  face,  on  an  open  issue,  for 
if  any  project  which  is  advocated  proves,  upon  free  and 
fair  examination,  to  be  based  on  errors  of  fact  and  doc- 
trine, it  becomes  a  danger  and  an  evil  to  be  exposed  and 
combated,  and  truth  of  fact  and  doctrine  must  be  set 
against  it. 

1.  PROTECTIONISM  INCLUDES  AND  NECESSARILY  CARRIES  WITH 
IT  HOSTILITY  TO  TRADE  OR,  AT  LEAST.  SUSPICION  AGAINST 
TRADE 

(A)  Rules  for  Knowing  when  it  is  Safe  to  Trade. 

63.  Every  protectionist  is  forced  to  regard  trade  as  a 
mischievous  or  at  least  doubtful  thing.  Protectionists 
have  even  tried  to  formulate  rules  for  determining  when 
trade  is  beneficial  and  when  harmful. 

64.  It  has  been  said  that  we  ought  to  trade  only  on 
meridians  of  longitude,  not  on  parallels  of  latitude. 

65.  It  has  been  affirmed  that  we  cannot  safely  trade 
unless  we  have  taxes  to  exactly  offset  the  lower  wages  of 
foreign  countries.     But  it  is  plain  that  if  the  case  stands 


52    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

so  that  an  American  employer  says:  "I  am  at  a  disad- 
vantage compared  with  my  foreign  competitor,  because  he 
pays  less  wages  than  I "  —  then,  by  the  same  token,  the 
American  laborer  will  say:  "I  am  at  an  advantage,  com- 
pared with  my  foreign  comrade,  for  I  get  better  wages 
than  he."  If  the  law  interferes  with  the  state  of  things 
so  that  the  employer  is  enabled  to  say:  "I  am  now  at  less 
disadvantage  in  competition  with  my  foreign  rival,  because 
I  do  not  now  have  to  pay  as  much  more  wages  than  he 
as  formerly  "  —  then,  by  the  same  token,  the  American 
laborer  must  say:  "I  am  not  now  as  much  better  off  than 
my  foreign  comrade  as  formerly,  for  I  do  not  now  gain  as 
much  more  than  he  as  I  did  —  there  is  not  now  as  much 
advantage  in  emigrating  to  this  country  as  formerly." 
Therefore,  whenever  the  taxes  just  offset  the  difference  in 
wages,  they  just  take  away  from  the  American  laborer  all  his 
superiority  over  the  foreigner,  and  take  away  all  reason  for 
caring  to  come  to  this  country.  So  much  for  the  laborer. 
But  the  employer,  if  he  has  arrested  immigration,  has  cut 
off  one  source  of  the  supply  of  labor,  tending  to  raise  wages, 
and  is  at  war  with  himself  again  (§  47). 

66.  It  has  been  said  that  two  nations  cannot  trade  ij  the 
rate  of  interest  in  the  two  differs  by  two  per  cent  The  rate 
of  interest  in  the  Atlantic  States  and  in  the  Mississippi 
Valley  has  always  differed  by  two  per  cent,  yet  they  have 
traded  together  under  absolute  free  trade,  and  the  IVIis- 
sissippi  Valley  has  had  to  begin  a  wilderness  and  grow  up 
to  the  highest  standard  of  civilization  in  spite  of  that  state 
of  things. 

67.  It  has  been  said  that  we  ought  to  trade  only  with 
inferior  nations.  The  United  States  does  not  trade  with 
any  other  nation,  save  when  it  buys  territory.  A  in  the 
United  States  trades  with  B  in  some  foreign  country.  If 
I  want  caoutchouc  I  want  to  trade  with  a  savage  in  the 
forests  of  South  America.     If  I  want  mahogany  I  want  to 


PROTECTIONISM   EXAMINED  ADVERSELY        53 

trade  with  a  man  in  Honduras.  If  I  want  sugar  I  want  to 
trade  with  a  man  in  Cuba.  If  I  want  tea  I  want  to  trade 
with  a  man  in  China.  If  I  want  silk  or  champagne  I  want 
to  trade  with  a  man  in  France.  If  I  want  a  razor  I  want  to 
trade  with  a  man  in  England.  I  want  to  trade  with  the 
man  who  has  the  thing  which  I  want  of  the  best  quality 
and  at  the  lowest  rate  of  exchange  for  my  products.  What 
is  the  definition  or  test  of  an  "inferior  nation,"  and  what 
has  that  got  to  do  with  trade  any  more  than  the  race, 
language,  color,  or  religion  of  the  man  who  has  the  goods? 

68.  If  trade  was  an  object  of  suspicion  and  dread,  then 
indeed  we  ought  to  have  rules  for  distinguishing  safe  and 
beneficial  trade  from  mischievous  trade,  but  these  attempts 
to  define  and  discriminate  only  expose  the  folly  of  the  sus- 
picion. We  find  that  the  primitive  men  who  dwelt  in 
caves  in  the  glacial  epoch  carried  on  trade.  The  earliest 
savages  made  footpaths  through  the  forests  by  which  to 
traffic  and  trade,  winning  thereby  mutual  advantages. 
They  found  that  they  could  supply  more  wants  with  less 
effort  by  trade,  which  gave  them  a  share  in  the  natural 
advantages  and  acquired  skill  of  others.  They  trained 
beasts  of  burden,  improved  roads,  invented  wagons  and 
boats y  all  in  order  to  extend  and  facilitate  trade.  They 
were  foolish  enough  to  think  that  they  were  gaining  by  it, 
and  did  not  know  that  they  needed  a  protective  tariff  to  keep 
them  from  ruining  themselves.  Or,  why  does  not  some 
protectionist  sociologist  tell  us  at  what  stage  of  civiliza- 
tion trade  ceases  to  be  advantageous  and  begins  to  need 
restraint  and  regulation.? 

{B)  Economic  Units  not  National  Units. 

69.  The  protectionists  say  that  their  system  advances 
civilization  inside  a  state  and  makes  it  great,  but  the  facts 
are  all  against  them  (see  §  136ff).    It  was  by  trade  that  civi- 


54    THE  FORGOTTEN   MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

lization  was  extended  over  the  earth.  It  was  through  the 
contact  of  trade  that  the  more  civihzed  nations  trans- 
mitted to  others  the  alphabet,  weights  and  measures, 
knowledge  of  astronomy,  divisions  of  time,  tools  and 
weapons,  coined  money,  systems  of  numeration,  treat- 
ment of  metals,  skins,  and  wool,  and  all  the  other  achieve- 
ments of  knowledge  and  invention  which  constitute  the 
bases  of  our  civilization.  On  the  other  hand,  the  nations 
which  shut  themselves  up  and  developed  an  independent 
and  self-contained  civilization  (China  and  Japan)  present 
us  the  types  of  arrested  civilization  and  stereotyped  social 
status.  It  is  the  penalty  of  isolation  and  of  withdrawal 
from  the  giving  and  taking  which  properly  bind  the  whole 
human  race  together,  that  even  such  intelligent  and  highly 
endowed  people  as  the  Chinese  should  find  their  high 
activity  arrested  at  narrow  limitations  on  every  side. 
They  invent  coin,  but  never  get  beyond  a  cast  copper  coin. 
They  invent  gunpowder,  but  cannot  make  a  gun.  They 
invent  movable  types,  but  only  the  most  rudimentary 
book.  They  discover  the  mariner's  compass,  but  never 
pass  the  infancy  of  ship-building. 

70.  The  fact  is,  then,  that  trade  has  been  the  handmaid 
of  civilization.  It  has  traversed  national  boundaries,  and 
has  gradually,  with  improvement  in  the  arts  of  transpor- 
tation, drawn  the  human  race  into  closer  relations  and  more 
harmonious  interests.  The  contact  of  trade  slowly  saps 
old  national  prejudice  and  religious  or  race  hatreds.  The 
jealousies  which  were  perpetuated  by  distance  and  igno- 
rance cannot  stand  before  contact  and  knowledge.  To  stop 
trade  is  to  arrest  this  beneficent  work,  to  separate  mankind 
into  sections  and  factions,  and  to  favor  discord,  jealousy, 
and  war. 

71.  Such  is  the  action  of  protectionism.  The  pro- 
tectionists make  much  of  their  pretended  "nationalism," 
and  they  try  to  reason  out  some  kind  of  relationship  be- 


PROTECTIONISM  EXAMINED  ADVERSELY        55 

tween  the  scope  of  economic  forces  and  the  boundaries  of 
existing  nations.  The  argumentation  is  fatally  broken  at 
its  first  step.  They  do  not  show  what  they  might  show, 
viz.,  that  the  scope  of  economic  forces  on  any  given  stage 
of  the  arts  does  form  economic  units.  An  English  county 
was  such  a  unit  a  century  ago.  I  doubt  if  anything  less 
than  the  whole  earth  could  be  considered  so  to-day,  when 
the  wool  of  Australia,  the  hides  of  South  America,  the 
cotton  of  Alabama,  the  wheat  of  Manitoba,  and  the  meat 
of  Texas  meet  the  laborers  in  Manchester  and  ShejQBeld, 
and  would  meet  the  laborers  in  Lowell  and  Paterson,  if 
the  barriers  were  out  of  the  way.  But  what  the  national 
protectionist  would  need  to  show  would  be  that  the  eco- 
nomic unit  coincides  with  the  political  unit.  He  would 
have  to  affirm  that  Maine  and  Texas  are  in  one  economic 
unit,  but  that  Maine  and  New  Brunswick  are  not;  or  that 
Massachusetts  and  Minnesota  are  in  one  economic  unit, 
but  that  Massachusetts  and  Manitoba  are  not.  Every 
existing  state  is  a  product  of  historic  accidents.  Mr. 
Jefferson  set  out  to  buy  the  city  of  New  Orleans.  He 
awoke  one  morning  to  find  that  he  had  bought  the  western 
half  of  the  Mississippi  Valley.  Since  that  turned  out  so, 
the  protectionists  think  that  Missouri  and  Illinois  prosper 
by  trading  in  perfect  freedom.^  If  it  had  not  turned  out 
so,  it  would  have  been  very  mischievous  for  them  to  trade 

^  Since  the  above  was  in  type,  I  have,  for  the  first  time,  seen  an  argument 
from  a  protectionist,  that  a  tarifiF  between  our  states  is,  or  may  become,  desirable. 
It  is  from  the  Chicago  Inter-Ocean,  and  marks  the  extreme  limit  reached,  up  to 
this  time,  by  protectionist  fanaticism  and  folly,  although  it  is  thoroughly  con- 
sistent, and  fairly  lays  bare  the  spirit  and  essence  of  protectionism: 

"In  the  United  States  the  present  ominous  and  overshadowing  strike  in  the 
iron  trade,  by  which  from  75,000  to  100,000  men  have  been  thrown  out  of  work, 
is  an  incisive  example  of  the  tendency  of  this  country,  also,  to  a  condition  of  trade 
which  will  compel  individual  states  and  certain  sections  of  the  country  to  ask  for 
legislation,  in  order  to  protect  them  against  the  cheaper  labor  and  superior  natural 
advantage  of  others."  The  remedy  for  the  harm  done  by  taxes  on  our  foreign 
trade  is  to  lay  some  on  our  domestic  trade.     (See  §§  26,  95.) 


56    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

in  perfect  freedom.  Nova  Scotia  did  not  join  the  revolt 
of  our  thirteen  colonies.  Hence  it  is  thought  ruinous  to 
let  coal  and  potatoes  come  in  freely  from  Nova  Scotia.  If 
she  had  revolted  with  us,  it  would  have  been  for  the  benefit 
of  everybody  in  this  union  to  trade  with  her  as  freely  as 
we  now  trade  with  Maine.  We  tried  to  conquer  Canada  in 
1812-1813  and  failed.  Consequently  the  Canadians  now  put 
taxes  on  our  coal  and  petroleum  and  wheat,  and  we  put 
taxes  on  their  lumber,  which  our  coal  and  petroleum  in- 
dustries need.  We  did  annex  Texas,  at  the  cost  of  war, 
in  184i>.  Consequently  we  trade  with  Texas  now  under 
absolute  freedom,  but,  if  we  trade  with  Mexico,  it  must  be 
only  very  carefully  and  under  stringent  limitations.  Is 
this  wisdom,  or  is  it  all  pure  folly  and  wrongheadedness, 
by  which  men  who  boast  of  their  intelligence  throw  away 
their  own  chances?  ^ 

72.  Trade  is  a  beneficent  thing.  It  does  not  need  any 
regulation  or  restraint.  There  is  no  point  at  which  it 
begins  to  be  dangerous.  It  is  mutually  beneficent.  If  it 
ceases  to  be  so,  it  ceases  entirely,  because  he  who  no  longer 
gains  by  it  will  no  longer  carry  it  on.     (See  §  125.) 

II.    PROTECTIONISM  IS  AT  WAR  WITH  IMPROVEMENT 

73.  The  cities  of  Japan  are  built  of  very  combustible 
material,  and  when  a  fire  begins  it  is  rarely  arrested  until 
the  city  is  destroyed.  It  was  suggested  that  a  steam  fire- 
engine  would  there  reach  its  maximum  of  utility.  One 
was  imported  and  proved  very  useful  on  several  occasions. 

*  Since  the  above  was  in  type,  a  treasury  order  has  subjected  all  goods  from 
Canada  to  the  same  taxes  as  imported  goods,  although  they  may  be  going  from 
Minnesota  to  England.  Nature  has  made  man  too  well  off.  The  inhabitants  of 
North  America  will  not  simply  use  their  chances,  but  they  divide  into  two  artifi- 
cial bodies  so  as  to  try  to  harm  each  other.  Millions  are  spent  to  cut  an  isthmus 
where  nature  has  left  one,  and  millions  more  to  set  up  a  tax-barrier  where  nature 
has  made  a  highway. 


PROTECTIONISM  EXAMINED  ADVERSELY        57 

Thereupon  the  carpenters  got  up  a  petition  to  the  govern- 
ment to  send  the  fire-engine  away,  because  it  ruined  their 
business. 

74.   The  instance  is  grotesque  and  exaggerated,  but  it 
is   strictly   true   to   the   principle   of   protectionism.     The 
southern   counties   of   England,   a  century   ago,   protested 
against  the  opening  of  the  great  northern  turnpike,  because 
that  would  bring  the  products  of  the  northern  counties  to 
the  London  market,  of  which  the  southern  counties  had 
had    a    monopoly.      After    the    St.    Gothard    tunnel    was 
opened   the   people   of   southern   Germany   petitioned   the 
Government   to  lay  higher  taxes   on  Italian  products  to 
offset  the  cheapness  which  the  tunnel  had  produced.     In 
1837  the  first  two  steamers  which  ever  made  commercial 
voyages  across  the  Atlantic  arrived  at  the  same  time.     A 
grand   celebration   was   held   in   New   York.     The   foolish 
people  rejoiced  as  if  a  new  blessing  had  been  won.     Man 
had  won  a  new  triumph  over  nature.     What  was  the  gain 
of  it.?     It  was  that  he  could  satisfy  his  needs  with  less 
labor  than  before;  or,  in  plain  language,  get  things  cheaper. 
But  in  1842  a  Home  Industry  Convention  was  held  in  New 
York,  at  which  it  was  alleged  as  the  prime  reason  why  more 
taxes  were  needed,  that  this  steam  transportation  had  made 
things  cheap  here.^     Taxes  were  needed  to  neutralize  the 
improvement. 

{A)  Taxes  to  Offset  Cheapened  Transportation. 

75.  For  the  last  twenty-five  years,  to  go  no  farther 
back,  we  have  multiplied  inventions  to  facilitate  trans- 
portation. Ocean  cables,  improved  marine  engines,  and 
screw  steamers,  have  been  only  improved  means,  of  sup- 
plying the  wants  of  people  on  two  continents  more 
abundantly   with   the   products   each   of   the   other.     The 

»  62,  Niles's  "  Register."  132. 


58    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

scientific  journals  and  the  daily  papers  boast  of  every  step 
in  this  development  as  a  thing  to  be  proud  of  and  rejoice 
in,  but  in  the  meantime  the  legislators  on  both  sides  of  the 
water  are  hard  at  work  to  neutralize  it  by  taxation.  We, 
in  the  United  States,  have  multiplied  monstrous  taxes  on 
all  the  things  which  others  make  and  which  we  want,  to 
prevent  them  from  being  brought  to  us.  The  statesmen 
of  the  European  continent  are  laying  taxes  on  our  meat 
and  wheat,  lest  they  be  brought  to  their  people.  The  arts 
are  bringing  us  together;  the  taxes  are  needed  to  keep  us 
apart.  In  France,  for  instance,  the  agriculturist  complains 
of  American  competition  —  not  "pauper  labor,"  but  gra- 
tuitous soil  and  sunlight.  He  does  not  want  the  French 
artisan  to  have  the  benefit  of  our  prairie  soil.  The  govern- 
ment yields  to  him  and  lays  a  tax  on  our  meat  and  wheat. 
This  raises  the  price  of  bread  in  Paris,  where  the  recon- 
struction of  the  city  has  collected  a  large  artisan  popula- 
tion. The  government  then  finds  itself  driven  to  fix  the 
price  of  bread  in  Paris,  to  keep  it  down.  But  the  recon- 
struction of  the  city  was  accomplished  by  contracting  a 
great  debt,  which  means  heavy  taxes.  These  taxes  drive 
the  population  out  into  the  suburbs.  At  least  one  voice 
has  been  raised  by  an  owner  of  city  property  that  a  tax 
ought  to  be  laid  on  suburban  residents  to  drive  them  back 
to  the  city,^  and  not  let  them  escape  the  efforts  of  the  city 
landlord  to  throw  his  taxes  on  them.  Then,  again,  France 
has  been  subsidizing  ships,  and  when  the  question  of  re- 
newing the  subsidy  came  up,  it  was  argued  that  the  ships 
subsidized  at  the  expense  of  the  French  taxpayer  had 
lowered  freight  on  wheat  and  made  wheat  cheap;  that  is, 
as  somebody  justly  replied,  had  wrought  the  very  mis- 
chief against  which  the  increased  tax  had  just  been  de- 
manded on  wheat.  Therefore  the  taxpayer  had  been 
taxed  first  to  make  wheat  cheap,  and  then  again  to  make 
it  dear. 

1  Journal  des  Economistes,  March,  1885,  page  496. 


PROTECTIONISM  EXAMINED   ADVERSELY        59 

76  Tax  A  to  favor  B.  If  A  complains,  tax  C  to  make 
it  up  to  A.  If  C  complains,  tax  B  to  favor  C.  If  any  of 
them  still  complain,  begin  all  over  again.  Tax  them  as 
long  as  anybody  complains,  or  anybody  wants  anythmg. 
This  is  the  statesmanship  of  the  last  quarter  of  the  mne- 

teenth  century.  ,     ,      .  xj    i^.e  f^ 

77  Bismarck,  too,  is  going  mto  the  busmess.     He  has  to 
rule  a  people  who  live  on  a  poor  soil  and  have  to  bear  a 
crushing   military   system.     The   consequence   is  that   the 
population  is  declining.     Emigration  exceeds  the  natural 
increase.     Bismarck's  cure  for  it  is  to  lay  protective  taxes 
against   American   pork   and    wheat    and    rye.     This    wdl 
protect  the  German  agriculturist.     If  it  lowers  still  more 
the  comfort  of  the  buyers  of  food,  and  drives  more  of    hem 
out  of  the  country,  then  he  will  go  and  buy  or  fight   for 
colonies  at  the  expense  of  the  German  agriculturists  whom 
he  has  just  "protected,"  although  the  surplus  population 
of  Germany  has  been  taking  itself  away  for  thirty  years 
without  asking  help  or  giving  trouble,     mat  can  Germany 
gain  by  diverting  her  emigrants  to  her  own  colony  unless 
she  means  to  bring  the  able-bodied  men  back  to  fight  her 
battles?     If  she  means  that,  the  emigrants  will  not  go  to 

^78 ""  France  is  also  reviving  the  old  colonial  policy  ^th 
discriminating  favors  and  compensatory  restraints.  She 
already  owns  a  possession  in  Algeria,  which  is  the  best 
example  of  a  colony  for  the  sake  of  a  colony.  It  has  been 
asserted  in  the  French  Chambers  that  each  French  family 
now  in  Algeria  has  cost  the  Government  {i.e.,  the  French 
taxpayer)  25,000  francs.^  The  longing  of  these  countries 
for  "colonies"  is  like  the  longing  of  a  negro  dandy  for  a 
cane  or  a  tall  hat  so  as  to  be  like  the  white  gentlemen. 

1  Paris  correspondent  of  the  New  York  Evening  Post,  February  9,  1884. 


60    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 
(B)  Sugar  Bounties. 

79.  The  worst  case  of  all,  however,  is  sugar.  The  pro- 
tectionists long  boasted  of  beet-root  sugar  as  a  triumph  of 
their  system.  It  is  now  an  industry  in  which  an  immense 
amount  of  capital  is  invested  on  the  Continent,  but  cheap 
transportation  for  cane  sugar,  and  improvements  in  the 
treatment  of  the  latter,  are  constantly  threatening  it. 
Mention  is  made  in  Bradstreefs  for  June  28,  1885,  of  a  very 
important  improvement  in  the  treatment  of  cane  which  has 
just  been  invented  at  Berlin.  Germany  has  an  excise  tax 
on  beet-root  sugar,  but  allows  a  drawback  on  it  when  ex- 
ported which  is  greater  than  the  tax.  This  acts  as  a 
bounty  paid  by  the  German  taxpayer  on  the  exportation. 
Consequently,  beet-root  sugar  has  appeared  even  in  our 
market.  The  chief  market  for  it,  however,  is  England. 
The  consequence  is  that  the  sugar,  which  is  nine  cents  a 
pound  in  Germany,  and  seven  cents  a  pound  here,  is  five 
cents  a  pound  in  England,  and  that  the  annual  consump- 
tion of  sugar  per  head  in  the  three  countries  ^  is  as  follows: 
England,  sixty-seven  and  a  half  pounds;  United  States, 
fifty-one  pounds;  Germany,  twelve  pounds.  I  sometimes 
find  it  difficult  to  make  people  understand  the  difference  be- 
tween wanting  an  "industry"  and  wanting  goods,  but  this 
case  ought  to  make  that  distinction  clear.  Obviously  the 
Germans  have  the  industry  and  the  Englishmen  have  the  sugar. 

80.  No  sooner,  however,  does  Germany  get  her  export 
bounty  in  good  working  order  than  the  Austrian  sugar  re- 
finers besiege  their  government  to  know  whether  Germany 
is  to  have  the  monopoly  of  giving  sugar  to  the  Englishmen.^ 

'  Economist,  Commercial  Review,  1884,  p.  15. 

^  The  Vienna  correspondent  of  the  Economist  writes,  June  15,  1885,  "The  rep- 
resentatives of  the  sugar  trade  addressed  a  petition  to  the  Finance  Minister,  ask- 
ing, above  all  things,  that  the  premium  on  export  should  be  retained,  without 
which,  they  say,  they  cannot  continue  to  exist,  and  which  is  granted  in  all  countries 
where  beet-root  sugar  is  manufactured." 


PROTECTIONISM  EXAMINED  ADVERSELY        61 

They  get  a  bounty  and  compete  for  that  privilege.  Then 
the  French  refiners  say  that  they  cannot  compete,  and  must 
be  enabled  to  compete  in  giving  sugar  to  the  Englishmen. 
I  believe  that  their  case  is  under  favorable  consideration. 

80  a.  I  have  found  it  harder  (as  is  usually  the  case)  to 
get  recorded  information  about  the  trade  and  industry  of 
our  own  country  than  about  those  of  foreign  nations. 
However,  we  too,  although  we  do  not  raise  beet-sugar, 
have  our  share  in  this  bounty  folly,  as  may  be  seen  by  the 
following  statement,  which  comes  to  hand  just  in  time  to 
serve  my  purpose.^  "The  export  of  refined  sugar  [from 
the  United  States]  is  entirely  confined  to  hard  sugars,  or, 
to  be  more  explicit,  loaf,  crushed,  and  granulated.  This 
is  because  the  drawback  upon  this  class  of  sugar  is  so  large 
that  refiners  are  enabled  to  sell  them  at  less  than  cost. 
The  highest  collectable  duty  upon  sugar  testing  as  high 
as  99°  is  but  2.36,  but  the  drawback  upon  granulated  test- 
ing the  same,  and  in  the  case  of  crushed  and  loaf  less,  is 
2.82  less  1  per  cent.  This  is  exactly  43  cents  per  one 
hundred  pounds  more  than  the  government  receives  in 
duty.  But  it  rarely  happens  that  raw  sugar  is  imported 
testing  99°,  and  never  for  refining  purposes.  The  following 
table  gives  the  rates  of  duty  upon  the  average  grades  used 

^ '                                                                                Degrees  Duty 

Fair  refining  testing 89  1 .  96 

Fair  refining  testing 90  2 .  00 

Centrifugal  testing 96  2 .  28 

Beet-sugar  testing 88  1 .  92 

It  will  be  clearly  seen  from  the  above  figures  that  with  a 
net  drawback  upon  hard  sugar  of  2.79  our  refiners  are  able 
to  sell  to  foreigners,  through  the  assistance  of  our  Treasury, 
sugar  at  less  than  cost.  Taking,  for  instance,  the  net 
price  of  centrifugal  testing  only  97°  and  the  net  price  less 
drawback  of  granulated: 

i  BradslreeCs,  July  25,  1885. 


62    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

Centrifugal  raw  sugar  testing  97° 6 .  00 

Less  duty 2.28 

Net 3.72 

Granulated  refined  testing  99° 6.37§ 

Less  drawback 2.71 

Net 3.661 


Nothing  could  demonstrate  the  absurdity  of  the  present 
rate  of  drawback  more  clearly  than  the  above.  A  refiner 
pays  6|  cents  per  hundred  more  for  raw  sugar  testing  2° 
less  saccharine  than  he  sells  refined  for.  Not,  however,  to 
the  American  consumers,  but  to  foreigners.  After  pay- 
ing the  expenses  necessary  to  refining  by  the  assistance  of 
a  drawback,  which  clearly  amounts  to  a  subsidy  of  about 
50  cents  a  hundred  pounds,  our  large  sugar  monopolists 
are  assisted  by  the  government  to  increase  the  cost  of  sugar 
to  American  consumers.  One  firm  controls  almost  the 
entire  trade  of  the  east;  at  all  events  it  is  safe  to  say  that 
the  trade  of  the  entire  country  is  controlled  by  three  firms, 
and  the  Treasury  assists  this  monopoly  in  sustaining  prices 
against  the  interest  of  the  country  at  large.  Up  to  date 
the  exports  of  refined  sugar  have  amounted  to  83,340  tons, 
which,  taken  at  50  cents  a  hundred,  has  cost  the  treasury 
over  $830,000.  All  this  may  not  have  gone  into  the  pockets 
of  the  refiners,  as  the  ship  owners  have  obtained  a  share, 
but  the  fact  remains  that  the  Treasury  is  the  loser  by  this 
amount.  Besides  this  bounty  presses  hard  upon  the  con- 
sumers. They  not  only  have  to  pay  the  tax,  but  during 
the  late  rise  they  were  compelled  to  pay  more  for  their 
sugar  than  they  otherwise  would  have  done  had  not  the 
export  demand  caused  by  selling  sugar  to  foreigners  at  less 
than  cost,  the  Treasury  paying  the  difference,  increased 
prices.  While  an  American  consumer  is  charged  6|  cents 
for  granulated,  foreign  buyers,  through  the  liberality  of 
our  government,  can  buy  it  under  3f  cents.     Certainly  it 


PROTECTIONISM  EXAMINED  ADVERSELY        63 

is  time  that  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  asked  the  sugar 
commission  to  commence  a  comprehensive  and  impartial 
inquiry." 

81.  Of  course  the  story  would  not  be  complete  if  the 
English  refiners  did  not  besiege  their  government  for  a 
tax  to  keep  out  this  maleficent  gift  of  foreign  taxpayers. 
This,  say  they,  is  not  free  trade.  This  is  protection  turned 
the  other  way  around.  We  might  hold  our  own  on  an  equal 
footing,  but  we  cannot  contend  against  a  subsidized  in- 
dustry. A  superficial  thinker  might  say  that  this  protest 
was  conclusive.  The  English  government  set  on  foot  an 
investigation,  not  of  the  sugar  refining,  but  of  those  other 
interests  which  were  in  danger  of  being  forgotten.  There  was 
a  tariff  investigation  which  was  worth  something  and  was 
worthy  of  an  enlightened  government.  It  was  found  that 
the  consumers  of  sugar  had  gained  more  than  all  the  wages 
paid  in  sugar  refining.  But,  on  the  side  of  the  producers, 
it  was  found  that  6,000  persons  are  employed  and  45,000 
tons  of  sugar  are  used  annually  in  the  neighborhood  of 
London  in  manufacturing  jam  and  confectionery.  In 
Scotland  there  are  eighty  establishments,  employing  over 
4,000  people  and  using  35,000  tons  of  sugar  per  annum  in 
similar  industries.  In  the  whole  United  Kingdom,  in  those 
industries,  100,000  tons  of  sugar  are  used  and  12,000  people 
are"  employed,  three  times  as  many  as  in  sugar  refining. 
Within  twenty  years  the  confectionery  trade  of  Scotland 
has  quadrupled  and  the  preserving  trade  —  jam  and  mar- 
malade —  has  practically  been  originated.  In  addition, 
refined  sugar  is  a  raw  material  in  biscuit  making  and  the 
manufacture  of  mineral  waters,  and  50,000  tons  are  used 
in  brewing  and  distilling.  Hence  the  Economist  argues 
(and  this  view  seems  to  have  controlled  the  decision):  "It 
may  be  that  the  gain  which  we  at  present  realize  from  the 
bounties  may  not  be  enduring,  as  it  is  impossible  to  believe 
that  foreign  nations  will  go  on  taxing  themselves  to  the  ex- 


64    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

tent  of  several  millions  a  year  in  order  to  supply  us  and 
others  with  sugar  at  less  than  its  fair  price,  but  that  is  no 
reason  for  refusing  to  avail  ourselves  of  their  liberality  so 
long  as  it  does  last."  ^     (See  §  83,  note.) 

82.  One  point  in  this  case  ought  not  to  be  lost  sight  of. 
If  the  English  government  had  yielded  to  the  sugar  refiners 
without  looking  further,  all  these  little  industries  which 
are  mentioned,  and  which  in  their  aggregate  are  so  im- 
portant, would  have  been  crushed  out.  Ten  years  later 
they  would  have  been  forgotten.  It  is  from  such  an  ex- 
ample that  one  must  learn  to  form  a  judgment  as  to  the 
effect  of  our  tariff  in  crushing  out  industries  which  are  now 
lost  and  gone,  and  cannot  even  be  recalled  for  purposes  of 
controversy,  but  which  would  spring  into  existence  again  if 
the  repeal  of  the  taxes  should  g^e  them  a  chance. 

83.  On  our  side  the  water  efforts  have  been  made  to  get 
us  into  the  sugar  struggle  by  the  proposed  commercial 
treaties  with  Spain  and  England,  which  would  in  effect 
have  extended  our  protective  tariff  around  Cuban  and 
English  West  Indian  sugar.^  The  sugar  consumers  of 
the  United  States  were  to  pay  to  the  Cuban  planters  the 
twenty-five  million  dollars  revenue  which  they  now  pay  to 
the  treasury  on  Cuban  sugar,  on  condition  that  the  Cubans 
should  bring  back  part  of  it  and  spend  it  among  our  manu- 
facturers. It  was  a  new  extension  of  the  plan  of  taxing 
some  of  us  for  the  benefit  of  others  of  us.  Let  it  be  noticed, 
too,  that  when  it  suited  their  purpose,  the  protectionists 
were  ready  to  sacrifice  the  sugar  industry  of  Louisiana 
without  the  least  concern.  We  have  been  trying  for 
twenty-five  years   to   secure  the   home  market   and  keep 

1  Economist,  1884,  p.  1052. 

^  A  friend  has  sent  me  a  report  (Barbados  Agricultural  Report,  April  24, 1885) 
of  an  indignation  meeting  at  Bridgetown  to  protest  because  the  English  Govern- 
ment refused  to  ratify  the  commercial  treaty  with  the  United  States.  The  islanders 
feel  the  competition  of  the  "bounty-fed"  sugar  in  the  English  market;  a  new  com- 
plication, a  new  mischief. 


PROTECTIONISM  EXAMINED  ADVERSELY        65 

everybody  else  out  of  it.  As  soon  as  we  get  it  firmly  shut, 
so  that  nobody  else  can  get  in,  we  find  that  it  is  a  question  of 
life  and  death  with  us  to  get  out  ourselves.  The  next  device 
is  to  tax  Americans  in  order  to  go  and  buy  a  piece  of  the 
foreign  market.  At  the  last  session  of  Congress  Senator 
Cameron  proposed  to  allow  a  drawback  on  raw  materials 
used  in  exported  products.  On  that  plan  the  American 
manufacturer  would  have  two  costs  of  production,  one 
when  he  was  working  for  the  home  market,  and  another 
much  lower  one  when  working  for  the  foreign  market.  As 
it  is  now,  the  exports  of  manufactured  products,  of  which 
so  much  boasting  is  heard,  are  for  the  most  part  articles 
sold  abroad  lower  than  here  so  as  not  to  break  down  the 
home  monopoly  market.  The  proposed  plan  would  raise 
that  to  a  system,  and  we  should  be  giving  more  presents  to 
foreigners. 

84.  To  return  to  sugar,  our  treaty  with  the  Sandwich 
Islands  has  produced  anomalous  and  mischievous  results 
on  the  Pacific  coast.  In  the  southern  Pacific  New  Zealand 
is  just  going  into  the  plan  of  bounties  and  protection  on 
sugar. ^  It  would  not,  therefore,  be  very  bold  to  predict 
a  worldwide  catastrophe  in  the  sugar  industry  within  five 
years. 

85.  Now  what  is  it  all  for.'^  What  is  it  all  about?  Na- 
poleon Bonaparte  began  it  in  a  despotic  whim,  when  he 
determined  to  force  the  production  of  beet-root  sugar  to 
show  that  he  did  not  care  for  the  supremacy  of  England 
at  sea  which  cut  him  off  from  the  sugar  islands.  In  order 
not  to  lose  the  capital  engaged  in  the  industry,  protection 
was  continued.  But  this  led  to  putting  more  capital  into 
it  and  further  need  of  protection.  The  problem  has  tor- 
mented financiers  for  seventy-five  years.  There  are  two 
natural  products,  of  which  the  cane  is  far  richer  in  sugar. 
But  the  processes  of   the  beet-sugar  industry  have  been 

^  Economist,  Commercial  Supplement,  February  14,  1885,  p.  7. 


66    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

improved,  until  recently,  far  more  rapidly  than  those  of  the 
cane  industry.  Then  the  refining  is  a  separate  interest. 
If,  then,  a  country  has  cane-sugar  colonies  which  it  wants 
to  protect  against  other  colonies,  and  a  beet-sugar  industry 
which  it  wants  to  protect  against  neighbors  who  produce 
beet-sugar,  and  refiners  to  be  protected  against  foreign  re- 
finers, and  if  the  relations  of  its  own  colonial  cane-sugar 
producers  to  its  own  domestic  beet-sugar  producers  must 
be  kept  satisfactorily  adjusted,  in  spite  of  changes  in  proc- 
esses, transportation,  and  taxation,  and  if  it  wants  to  get 
a  revenue  from  sugar,  and  to  use  the  colonial  trade  to  de- 
velop its  shipping,  and  if  it  has  two  or  three  commercial 
treaties  in  which  sugar  is  an  important  item,  the  states- 
man of  that  country  has  a  task  like  that  of  a  juggler  riding 
several  horses  and  keeping  several  balls  in  motion.  Sugar 
is  the  commodity  on  which  the  effects  of  a  world-embrac- 
ing commerce,  produced  by  modern  inventions,  are  most 
apparent,  and  it  is  the  commodity  through  which  all  the 
old  protectionist  anti-commercial  doctrines  will  be  brought 
to  the  most  decisive  test. 

(C)  Forced  Foreign  Relations  to  Regulate  Improve- 
ment WHICH   CAN   NO  LoNGER  BE  DEFEATED. 

86.  If  we  turn  back  once  more  to  our  own  case,  we  note 
the  rise  in  1883-1884  of  the  policy  of  commercial  treaties 
and  of  a  "vigorous  foreign  policy."  For  years  a  "national 
policy"  for  us  has  meant  "securing  the  home  market." 
The  perfection  of  this  policy  has  led  to  isolation  and  os- 
tentatious withdrawal  from  cosmopolitan  interests.  I  may 
say  that  I  do  not  write  out  of  any  sympathy  with  vague 
humanitarianism  or  cosmopolitan  sentiments.  It  seems  to 
me  that  local  groupings  have  great  natural  strength  and 
obvious  utility  so  long  as  they  are  subdivisions  of  a  higher 
organization  of  the  human  race,  or  so  long  as  they  are 


PROTECTIONISM  EXAMINED  ADVERSELY        67 

formed  freely  and  their  relations  to  each  other  are  de- 
veloped naturally.  But  now  suddenly  rises  a  clap-trap 
demand  for  a  "national  policy,"  which  means  that  we  shall 
force  our  way  out  of  our  tax-created  isolation  by  diplo- 
macy or  war.  The  effort,  however,  is  to  be  restrained  care- 
fully and  arbitrarily  to  the  western  hemisphere,  and  we 
have  anxiously  disavowed  any  part  or  lot  in  the  regulation 
of  the  Congo,  although  we  shall  certainly  some  day  desire 
to  take  our  share  in  the  trade  of  that  district.  Our  states- 
men, however,  if  they  are  going  to  let  us  have  any  foreign 
trade,  cannot  bear  to  let  us  go  and  take  it  where  we  shall 
make  most  by  it.  They  must  draw  a  priori  lines  for  it. 
They  have  taxed  us  in  order  to  shut  us  up  at  home.  This 
has  killed  the  carrying  trade,  for,  if  we  decided  not  to  trade, 
what  could  the  shippers  find  to  do.^*  Next  ship-building 
perished,  for  if  there  was  no  carrying  trade  why  build 
ships,  especially  when  the  taxes  to  protect  manufactures 
were  crushing  ships  and  commerce.'^  (§  101.)  Next  the 
navy  declined,  for  with  no  commerce  to  protect  at  sea,  we 
need  no  navy.  Next  we  lost  the  interest  which  we  took 
thirty  years  ago  in  a  canal  across  the  isthmus,  because  we 
have  now,  under  the  no-trade  policy,  no  use  for  it.  Next 
diplomacy  became  a  sinecure,  for  we  have  no  foreign 
relations. 

87.  Now  comes  the  "national  policy,"  not  because  it  is 
needed,  but  as  an  artificial  and  inflated  piece  of  political 
bombast.  We  are  to  galvanize  our  diplomacy  by  contract- 
ing commercial  treaties  and  meddling  in  foreign  quarrels. 
No  doubt  this  will  speedily  make  a  navy  necessary.  In 
fact  our  proposed  "American  policy"  is  only  an  old,  cast- 
off,  eighteenth-century,  John  Bull  policy,  which  has  forced 
England  to  keep  up  a  big  army,  a  big  navy,  heavy  debt, 
heavy  taxes,  and  a  constant  succession  of  little  wars.  Hence 
we  shall  be  taxed  some  more  to  pay  for  a  navy.  Then  it  is 
proposed  to  tax  us  some  more  to  pay  for  canals  through 


68    THE  FORGOTTEN   MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

which  the  navy  can  go.  Then  we  are  to  be  taxed  some 
more  to  subsidize  merchant  ships  to  go  through  the  canal. 
Then  we  are  to  be  taxed  some  more  to  subsidize  voyages, 
i.e.,  the  carrying  trade.  Then  we  are  to  be  taxed  some 
more  to  provide  the  ships  with  cargoes  (§  83). 

88.  All  this  time,  the  whole  West  Indian,  Mexican,  and 
Central  and  South  American  trade  is  ours  if  we  will  only 
stand  out  of  the  way  and  let  it  come.  It  is  ours  by  all 
geographical  and  commercial  advantage,  and  would  have 
been  ours  since  1825  if  we  had  but  taken  down  the  barriers. 
Instead  of  that  we  propose  to  tax  ourselves  some  more  to 
lift  it  over  the  barriers.  Take  the  taxes  off  goods,  let  ex- 
change go  on,  and  the  carrying  trade  comes  as  a  conse- 
quence. If  we  have  goods  to  carry,  we  shall  build  or  buy 
ships  in  which  to  carry  them.  If  we  have  merchant  ships, 
we  shall  need  and  shall  keep  up  a  suitable  navy.  If  we 
need  canals,  we  shall  build  them,  as,  in  fact,  private  capital 
is  now  building  one  and  taking  the  risk  of  it.  If  we  need 
diplomacy  we  shall  learn  and  practice  diplomacy  of  the 
democratic,  peaceful,  and  commercial  type. 

89.  Thus,  under  the  philosophy  of  protectionism,  the 
very  same  thing,  if  it  comes  to  us  freely  by  the  extension 
of  commerce  and  the  march  of  improvement,  is  regarded 
with  terror,  while,  if  we  can  first  bar  it  out,  and  then  only 
let  a  little  of  it  in  at  great  cost  and  pains,  it  is  a  thing  worth 
fighting  for.  Such  is  the  fallacy  of  all  commercial  treaties. 
The  crucial  criticism  on  all  the  debates  at  Washington  in 
1884-1885  was:  Have  these  debaters  made  up  their  minds  to 
any  standard  by  which  to  measure  what  you  get  and  what  you 
give  under  a  commercial  treaty?  It  was  plain  that  they 
had  not.  A  generation  of  protectionism  has  taken  away 
the  knowledge  of  what  trade  is  (§§  125,  139),  and  whence 
its  benefits  arise,  and  has  created  a  suspicion  of  trade 
(§§  63  ff.).  Hence  when  our  public  men  came  to  compare 
what  we  should  get  and  what  we  should  give,  they  set 


PROTECTIONISM  EXAMINED  ADVERSELY        69 

about  measuring  this  by  things  which  were  entirely  foreign 
to  it.  Scarcely  two  of  them  agreed  as  to  the  standards  by 
which  to  measure  it.  Some  thought  that  it  was  the  number 
of  people  in  one  country  compared  with  the  number  in  the 
other.  Others  thought  that  it  was  the  amount  sold  to  as 
compared  with  the  amount  bought  from  the  country  in 
question.  Others  thought  that  it  was  the  amount  of 
revenue  to  be  sacrificed  by  us  as  compared  with  the  amount 
which  would  be  sacrificed  by  the  other  party.  If  any  one 
will  try  to  establish  a  standard  by  which  to  measure  the 
gain  by  such  a  treaty  to  one  party  or  the  other,  he  will  be 
led  to  see  the  fallacy  of  the  whole  procedure.  The  great- 
est gain  to  both  would  be  if  the  trade  were  perfectly  free. 
If  it  is  obstructed  more  or  less,  that  is  a  harm  to  be  cor- 
rected as  far  and  as  soon  as  possible.  If  then  either  party 
lowers  its  own  taxes,  that  is  a  gain  and  a  movement  toward 
the  desirable  state  of  things.  No  state  needs  anybody's 
permission  to  lower  its  own  taxes,  and  entanglements 
which  would  impair  its  fiscal  independence  would  be  a  new 
harm.^ 


^  Since  the  above  was  in  type,  a  report  from  the  "South  American  Commission" 
has  been  received  and  published.  This  Commission  submitted  certain  proposi- 
tions to  the  President  of  Chili  on  behalf  of  the  United  States.     The  report  says: 

"The  second  proposition  involved  the  idea  of  a  reciprocal  commercial  treaty 
between  the  two  countries  tmder  which  special  products  of  each  should  be  ad- 
mitted free  of  duty  into  the  other  when  carried  under  the  flag  of  either  nation. 
This  did  not  meet  with  any  greater  favor  with  President  Santa  Maria,  who  was 
not  disposed  to  make  reciprocity  treaties.  His  people  were  at  liberty  to  sell  where 
they  could  get  the  best  prices  and  buy  where  goods  were  the  cheapest.  In  his 
opinion  commerce  was  not  aided  by  commercial  treaties,  and  Chili  neither  asked 
from  nor  gave  to  other  nations  especial  favors.  Trade  would  regulate  itself,  and 
there  was  no  advantage  in  trjang  to  divert  it  in  one  direction  or  the  other.  So 
far  as  the  United  States  was  concerned,  there  could  be  very  little  trade  with  Chili, 
owing  to  the  fact  that  the  products  of  the  two  countries  were  almost  identical. 
Chili  produced  very  little  that  we  wanted,  and  although  there  were  many  industrial 
products  of  the  United  States  that  were  used  in  Chili,  the  merchants  of  the  latter 
country  must  be  allowed  to  buy  where  they  sold  and  where  they  could  trade  to 
the  greatest  advantage.     With  reference  to  the  provision  that  reduced  duties 


70    THE  FORGOTTEN   MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

90.  Protectionism,  therefore,  is  at  war  with  improve- 
ment. It  is  only  useful  to  annul  and  offset  the  effects  of 
those  very  improvements  of  which  we  boast.  In  time,  the 
improvements  win  power  so  great  that  protectionism  can- 
not withstand  them.  Then  it  turns  about  and  tries  to  con- 
trol and  regulate  them  at  great  expense  by  diplomacy  or  war. 
The  greater  and  more  worldwide  these  improvements  are, 
the  more  numerous  are  the  efforts  in  different  parts  of  the 
world  to  revive  or  extend  protection.  No  doubt  there  is 
loss  and  inconvenience  in  the  changes  which  improvement 
brings  about.  A  notable  case  is  the  loss  and  inconven- 
ience of  a  laborer  where  a  machine  is  first  introduced  to 
supplant  him.  Patient  endurance  and  hope,  in  the  con- 
fidence that  he  will  in  the  end  be  better  off,  has  long  been 
preached  to  him.  It  is  true  that  he  will  be  better  off;  but 
why  not  apply  the  same  doctrine  in  connection  with  the 
other  inconveniences  of  improvement,  where  it  is  equally 
true.f* 

8.   PROTECTION  LOWERS  WAGES 

91.  On  a  pure  wages  system,  that  is,  where  there  is  a 
class  who  have  no  capital  and  no  land,  wages  are  deter- 
mined by  supply  and  demand  of  labor.  The  demand  for 
labor  is  measured  by  the  capital  in  hand  to  pay  for  it  just 
as  the  demand  for  anything  else  is  measured  by  the  supply 
of  goods  offered  in  exchange  for  it.  In  Cobden's  language: 
*'When  two  men  are  after  one  boss,  wages  are  low;  when 
two  bosses  are  after  one  man,  wages  are  high." 

should  be  allowed  only  upon  goods  Carried  in  Chilian  or  American  vessels,  he  said 
that  Chili  did  not  want  any  such  means  to  encourage  her  commerce:  her  ports 
were  open  to  all  the  vessels  of  the  world  upon  an  equality,  and  none  should  have 
especial  privileges."  —  (N.  Y.  Times,  July  3,  1885.) 

If  this  is  a  fair  specimen  of  the  political  and  economic  enlightenment  which 
prevails  at  the  other  end  of  the  American  Continent,  it  is  a  great  pity  that  the 
"Commission"  is  not  a  great  deal  larger.  They  are  like  the  illiterate  missionaries 
who  found  themselves  unawares  in  a  theological  seminary.  We  would  do  well  to 
send  our  whole  Congress  out  there. 


PROTECTIONISM  EXAMINED  ADVERSELY        71 

(A)  No  True  Wages  Class  in  the  United  States. 

92.  The  United  States,  however,  have  never  yet  been 
on  a  pure  wages  system  because  there  is  no  class  which  has 
no  land  or  cannot  get  any.  In  fact,  the  cheapening  of 
transportation  which  is  going  on  is  making  the  land  of  this 
continent,  Australia,  and  Africa  available  for  the  laborers 
of  Europe,  and  is  breaking  down  the  wages  system  there. 
This  is  the  real  reason  for  the  rise  of  the  proletariat  and 
the  expansion  of  democracy  which  are  generally  attributed 
to  metaphysical,  sentimental,  or  political  causes.  A  man 
who  has  no  capital  and  no  land  cannot  live  from  day  to 
day  except  by  getting  a  share  in  the  capital  of  others 
in  return  for  services  rendered.  In  an  old  society  or  dense 
population,  such  a  class  comes  into  existence.  It  has  no 
reserves;  no  other  chances;  no  other  resource.  In  a  new 
country  no  such  class  exists.  The  land  is  to  be  had  for 
going  to  it.  On  the  stage  of  agriculture  which  is  there  ex- 
isting very  little  capital  and  very  little  division  of  labor 
are  necessary.  Hence  he  who  has  only  unskilled  manual 
strength  can  get  at  and  use  the  land,  and  he  can  get  out  of 
it  an  abundant  supply  of  the  rude  primary  comforts  of  exist- 
ence for  himself  and  his  family.  If  it  is  made  so  cheap  and 
easy  to  get  from  the  old  centers  of  population  to  the  new 
land  that  the  lowest  class  of  laborers  can  save  enough  to 
pay  the  passage,  then  the  effect  will  reach  the  labor  market 
of  the  old  countries  also.    Such  is  now  the  fact. 

93.  The  weakness  of  a  true  wages  class  is  in  the  fact 
that  they  have  no  other  chance.  Obviously,  however,  a 
man  is  well  off  in  this  world  in  proportiofi  to  the  chances  which 
he  can  command.  The  advantage  of  education  is  that  it 
multiplies  a  man's  chances.  Our  noncapitalists  have  another 
chance  on  the  land,  and  the  chance  is  near  and  easy  to  grasp 
and  use.  It  is  not  necessary  that  all  or  any  number  should 
use  it.     Every  one  who  uses  it  leaves  more  room  behind. 


72    THE  FORGOTTEN   MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

lessens  the  supply  and  competition  of  labor,  and  helps  his 
class  as  a  class.  The  other  chance  which  the  laborer  pos- 
sesses is  also  a  good  one,  and  consequently  sets  the  mini- 
mum of  unskilled  wages  high.  Here  we  have  the  reason  for 
high  wages  in  a  new  country, 

94.  The  relation  of  things  was  distinctly  visible  in  the 
early  colonial  days.  Winthrop  tells  how  the  General  Court 
in  Massachusetts  Bay  tried  to  fix  the  wages  of  artisans  by 
law.  It  is  obvious  that  artisans  were  in  great  demand  to 
build  houses,  and  that  they  would  not  work  at  their  trades 
unless  the  wages  would  buy  as  good  or  better  living  than 
the  farmers  could  get  out  of  the  ground,  for  these  artisans 
could  go  and  take  up  land  and  be  farmers  too.  The  only 
effect  of  the  law  was  that  the  artisans  "went  West"  to  the 
valley  of  the  Connecticut,  and  the  law  became  a  dead 
letter.  The  same  equilibration  between  the  gains  from 
the  new  land  and  the  wages  of  artisans  and  laborers  has 
been  kept  up  ever  since. 

95.  In  1884  an  attempt  was  made  to  unite  the  Eastern 
and  Western  Iron  Associations  for  common  effort  in  behalf 
of  higher  wages.  The  union  could  not  be  formed  because 
the  Eastern  and  Western  Associations  never  had  had  the 
same  rate  of  wages.  The  latter,  being  farther  west,  where 
the  supply  of  labor  is  smaller  and  the  land  nearer,  have 
obtained  higher  wages.  It  may  be  well  to  anticipate  a 
little  right  here  in  order  to  point  out  that  this  difference  in 
wages  has  not  prevented  the  growth  of  the  industry  in 
the  West,  and  has  not  made  competition  in  a  common 
market  impossible.^  The  fact  is  of  the  first  importance  to 
controvert  the  current  assumption  of  the  protectionists. 
They  say  that  an  industry  cannot  be  carried  on  in  one 
place  if  the  wages  there  are  higher  than  must  be  paid  by 
somebody  in  the  same    industry  in  another  place.     This 

'  This  is  the  case  for  which  the  Inter-Ocean  proposed  the  remedy  described  in 
§  71  note. 


PROTECTIONISM  EXAMINED  ADVERSELY        73 

proposition  has  no  foundation  in  fact  at  all.  Farm  laborers 
in  Iowa  get  three  times  the  wages  of  farm  laborers  in  Eng- 
land. The  products  of  the  former  pay  5,000  miles  trans- 
portation, and  then  drive  out  the  products  of  the  latter. 
Wages  are  only  one  element,  and  often  they  are  far  from 
being  the  most  important  element,  in  the  economy  of  pro- 
duction. The  wages  which  are  paid  to  the  men  who  make  an 
article  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  price  or  value  of  that  article. 
This  proposition,  I  know,  has  a  startling  effect  on  the 
people  who  hold  to  the  monkish  notions  of  political  econ- 
omy, but  it  is  only  a  special  case  of  the  theorem  that 
"Labor  lohich  is  past  has  no  effect  on  value"  which  is  the 
true  cornerstone  of  any  sound  political  economy.  Wages 
are  determined  by  the  supply  and  demand  of  labor.  Value 
is  determined  by  the  supply  and  demand  of  the  commodity. 
These  two  things  have  no  connection.  Wages  are  one  ele- 
ment in  the  capitalist's  outlay  for  production.  If  the  total 
outlay  in  one  line  of  production,  when  compared  with  the 
return  obtained  in  that  line,  is  not  as  advantageous  as  the 
total  outlay  in  another  line  when  compared  with  the  return 
available  in  the  second  line,  then  the  capital  is  withdrawn 
from  the  first  line  and  put  into  the  second;  but  the  rate  of 
wages  in  either  case  or  any  case  is  the  market  rate,  deter- 
mined by  the  supply  and  demand  of  labor,  for  that  is  what 
the  employers  must  pay  if  they  want  the  men,  whether 
they  are  making  any  profits  or  not. 

96.  The  facts  and  economic  principles  just  stated  above 
show  plainly  why  wages  are  high,  and  put  in  strong  light 
the  assertion  of  the  protectionists  that  their  device  makes 
wages  high  (§  47),  that  is,  higher  than  they  would  be  other- 
wise, or  higher  here  than  they  are  in  Europe,  Wages  are 
not  arbitrary.  They  cannot  be  shifted  up  and  down  at 
anybody's  whim.  They  are  controlled  by  ultimate  causes. 
If  not,  then  what  has  made  them  fall  during  the  last  eight- 
een months,  ten  to  forty  per  cent,  most  in  the  most  pro- 


74    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

tected  industries  (§  26)  ?  Why  are  they  highest  in  the  least 
protected  and  the  unprotected  industries,  e.g.,  the  build- 
ing trades?  Hod-carriers  recently  struck  in  New  York  for 
three  dollars  for  nine  hours'  work.  WTiere  did  the  tariff 
touch  their  case?  Why  does  not  the  tariff  prevent  the  fall  in 
wages?  It  is  all  there,  and  now  is  the  time  for  it  to  come 
into  operation,  if  it  can  keep  wages  up.  Now  it  is  needed. 
When  wages  were  high  in  the  market,  and  it  was  not 
needed,  it  claimed  the  credit.  Now  when  they  fall  and  it  is 
needed,  it  is  powerless. 

97.  Wages  are  capital.  If  I  promise  to  pay  wages  I 
must  find  capital  somewhere  with  which  to  fulfill  my  con- 
tract. If  the  tariff  makes  me  pay  more  than  I  otherwise 
would,  where  does  the  surplus  come  from?  Disregarding 
money  as  only  an  intermediate  term,  a  man's  wages  are  his 
means  of  subsistence  —  food,  clothing,  house  rent,  fuel, 
lights,  furniture,  etc.  If  the  tariff  system  makes  him  get 
more  of  these  for  ten  hours'  work  in  a  shop  than  he  would 
get  without  tariff,  where  does  the  ''more"  come  from?  Noth- 
ing but  labor  and  capital  can  produce  food,  clothing,  etc. 
Either  the  tax  must  make  these  out  of  nothing,  or  it  can 
only  get  them  by  taking  them  from  those  who  have  made 
them,  that  is  by  subtracting  them  from  the  wages  of  some- 
body else.  Taking  all  the  wages  class  into  account,  then 
the  tax  cannot  possibly  increase,  but  is  sure  by  waste  and 
loss  to  decrease  wages. 

{B)  How  Taxes  Do  Act  on  Wages. 

98.  If  taxes  are  to  raise  wages  they  must  be  laid  not  on 
goods  but  on  men.  Let  the  goods  be  abundant  and  the 
men  scarce.  Then  the  average  wages  will  be  high,  for  the 
supply  of  labor  will  be  small  and  the  demand  great.  If 
we  tax  goods  and  not  men,  the  supply  of  labor  will  be  great, 
the  demand  will  be  limited,  and  the  wages  will  be  low. 


PROTECTIONISM  EXAMINED  ADVERSELY        75 

Here  we  see  why  employers  of  labor  want  a  tariff.  For  it 
is  an  obvious  inconsistency  and  a  most  grotesque  satire 
that  the  same  men  should  tell  the  workmen  at  home  that 
the  tariff  makes  wages  high,  and  should  go  to  Washington 
and  tell  Congress  that  they  want  a  tariff  because  the  wages 
are  too  high.  We  have  found  that  the  high  wages  of  Ameri- 
can laborers  have  independent  causes  and  guarantees,  out- 
side of  legislation.  They  are  provided  and  maintained  by 
the  economic  circumstances  of  the  country.  This  is  against 
the  interest  of  those  who  want  to  hire  the  laborers.  No 
device  can  serve  their  interest  unless  it  lowers  wages. 
From  the  standpoint  of  an  employer  the  fortunate  circum- 
stances of  the  laborer  become  an  obstacle  to  be  overcome 
(§65),  The  laborer  is  too  well  off.  Nothing  can  do  any 
good  which  does  not  make  him  less  well  off.  The  competi- 
tion which  troubles  the  employer  is  not  the  *' pauper  labor" 
of  Europe. 

99.  "Pauper  labor"  had  a  meaning  in  the  first  half  of 
this  century,  in  England,  when  the  overseers  of  the  poor 
turned  over  the  younger  portion  of  the  occupants  of  the 
poorhouses  to  the  owners  of  the  new  cotton  factories,  under 
contracts  to  teach  them  the  trade  and  pay  them  a  pittance. 
Of  course  the  arrangement  had  shocking  evils  connected 
with  it,  but  it  was  a  transition  arrangement.  The  "pauper 
laborers'"  children,  after  a  generation,  became  independ- 
ent laborers;  the  system  expired  of  itself,  and  "pauper 
laborer"  is  now  a  senseless  jingle. 

100.  The  competition  which  the  employers  fear  is  the 
competition  of  those  industries  in  America  which  can  pay  the 
high  wages  and  which  keep  the  wages  high  because  they  do  pay 
them.  These  draw  the  laborer  away.  These  offer  him 
another  chance.  If  he  had  no  other  way  of  earning  more 
than  he  is  earning,  it  would  be  idle  for  him  to  demand 
more.  The  reason  why  he  demands  more  and  gets  it  is 
because  he  knows  where  he  can  get  it,  if  he  cannot  get  it 


76    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

where  he  is.  If,  then,  he  is  to  be  brought  down,  the  only 
way  to  do  it  is  to  destroy,  or  lessen  the  value  of,  his  other 
chance.    This  is  just  what  the  tariff  does. 

101.  The  taxes  which  are  laid  for  protection  must  come 
out  of  somebody.  As  I  have  shown  (§§  32  ff.)  the  protected 
interests  give  and  take  from  each  other,  but,  if  they  as  a 
group  win  anything,  they  must  win  from  another  group, 
and  that  other  group  must  be  the  industries  which  are  not 
and  cannot  be  protected.  In  England  these  were  formerly 
manufactures  and  they  were  taxed,  under  the  corn  laws, 
for  the  benefit  of  agriculture.  In  the  United  States,  of 
course,  the  case  must  be  complementary  and  opposite.  We 
tax  agriculture  and  commerce  to  benefit  manufactures. 
Commerce,  i.e.,  the  ship-building  and  carrying  trade,  has 
been  crushed  out  of  existence  by  the  burden  (§86).  But 
the  burden  thus  thrown  on  agriculture  and  commerce  lowers 
the  gains  of  those  industries,  lessens  the  attractiveness  of 
them  to  the  laborer,  lessens  the  value  of  the  laborer's  other 
chance,  lessens  the  competition  of  other  American  indus- 
tries with  manufacturing,  and  so,  by  taking  away  from  the 
blessing  which  God  and  nature  have  given  to  the  American 
laborer,  enable  the  man  who  wants  to  hire  his  services  to 
get  them  at  a  lower  rate.  The  effect  of  taxes  is  just  the 
same  as  such  a  percentage  taken  from  the  fertility  of  the 
soil,  the  excellence  of  the  climate,  the  power  of  tools,  or 
the  industrious  habits  of  the  people.  Hence  it  reduces 
the  average  comfort  and  welfare  of  the  population,  and 
with  that  average  comfort  it  carries  down  the  wages  of 
such  persons  as  work  for  wages. 

(C)  Perils  of  Statistics,  Especially  of  Wages. 

102.  Any  student  of  statistics  will  be  sure  to  have  far 
less  trust  in  statistics  than  the  uninitiated  entertain.  The 
bookkeepers  have  taught  us  that  figures  will  not  lie,  but 


PROTECTIONISM  EXAMINED  ADVERSELY        77 

that  they  will  tell  very  queer  stories.  Statistics  will  not  lie, 
but  they  will  play  wonderful  tricks  with  a  man  who  does 
not  understand  their  dialect.  The  unsophisticated  reader 
finds  it  diflficult,  when  a  column  of  statistics  is  offered  to 
him,  to  resist  the  impression  that  they  must  prove  some- 
thing. The  fact  is  that  a  column  of  statistics  hardly  ever 
proves  anything.  It  is  a  popular  opinion  that  anybody 
can  use  or  understand  statistics.  The  fact  is  that  a  special 
and  high  grade  of  skill  is  required  to  appreciate  the  effect 
of  the  collateral  circumstances  under  which  the  statistics 
were  obtained,  to  appreciate  the  limits  of  their  application, 
and  to  interpret  their  significance.  The  statistics  which 
are  used  to  prove  national  prosperity  are  an  illustration 
of  this,  for  they  are  used  as  absolute  measures  when  it  is 
plain  that  they  have  no  use  except  for  a  comparison.  Some- 
times the  other  term  of  the  comparison  is  not  to  be  found 
and  it  is  always  ignored  (§  52). 

103.  A  congressional  committee  in  the  winter  of  1883- 
1884,  dealing  with  the  tariff,  took  up  the  census  and  proceeded 
to  reckon  up  the  wages  in  steel  production  by  adding  all  the 
wages  from  the  iron  mine  up.  Then  they  took  bar  iron  and 
added  all  the  wages  from  the  bottom  up  again,  in  order  to 
find  the  importance  of  the  wages  element  in  that,  and  so 
on  with  every  stage  of  iron  industry.  They  were  going  to 
add  in  the  same  wages  six  or  eight  times  over. 

104.  The  statistics  of  comparative  wages  which  are  pub- 
lished are  of  no  value  at  all.^  It  is  not  known  how,  or  by 
whom,  or  from  what  selected  cases,  they  were  collected. 
It  is  not  known  how  wide,  or  how  long,  or  how  thorough 
was  the  record  from  which  they  were  taken.  The  facts 
about  various  classifications  of  labor  in  the  division  of  labor, 
and  about  the  rate  at  which  machinery  is  run,  or  about  the 
allowances  of  one  kind  and  another  which  vary  from  mill 

^  I  except  those  of  Mr.  Carroll  Wright.  He  has  sufficiently  stated  of  how  slight 
value  his  are. 


78    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

to  mill  and  town  to  town  are  rarely  specified  at  all.  Pro- 
tected employers  are  eager  to  tell  the  wages  they  pay  per 
day  or  week,  which  are  of  no  importance.  The  only  statis- 
tics which  would  be  of  any  use  for  the  comparison  which 
is  attempted  would  be  such  as  show  the  proportion  of  wages 
to  total  cost  per  unit.  Even  this  comparison  would  not 
have  the  force  which  is  attributed  to  the  other.  Hence  the 
statistics  offered  are  worthless  or  positively  misleading.  In 
the  nature  of  the  case  such  statistics  are  extremely  hard  to 
get.  If  application  is  made  to  the  employers,  the  inquiry 
concerns  their  private  business.  They  have  no  interest  in 
answering.  They  cannot  answer  without  either  spending 
great  labor  on  their  books  (if  the  inquiry  covers  a  period), 
or  surrendering  their  books  to  some  one  else,  if  they  allow 
him  to  do  the  labor.  If  inquiry  is  made  of  the  men,  it  be- 
comes long  and  tedious  and  full  of  uncertainties.  Do 
United  States  Consuls  take  the  trouble  involved  in  such  an 
inquiry?  Have  they  the  training  necessary  to  conduct  it 
successfully? 

105.  The  fact  is  generally  established  and  is  not  disputed 
that  wages  are  higher  here  than  in  Europe.  The  difference 
is  greatest  on  the  lowest  grade  of  labor  —  manual  labor, 
unskilled  labor.  The  difference  is  less  on  higher  grades  of 
labor.  For  what  the.  English  call  "engineers,"  men  who 
possess  personal  dexterity  and  creative  power,  the  differ- 
ence is  the  other  way,  if  we  compare  the  United  States  and 
England.  The  returns  of  immigration  reflect  these  differ- 
ences exactly  (§122,  note).  The  great  body  of  the  immi- 
grants consists  of  farmers  and  laborers.  The  "skilled 
laborers"  are  comparatively  a  small  class,  and,  if  the  claims 
of  the  individuals  to  be  what  they  call  themselves  were 
tested  by  English  or  German  trade  standards,  the  number 
would  be  very  small  indeed.  Engineers  emigrate  from 
Germany  to  England.  Men  of  that  class  rarely  come  to 
this  country,  or,  if  they  come,  they  come  under  special  con- 


PROTECTIONISM  EXAMINED  ADVERSELY        79 

tracts,  or  soon  return.  Each  country,  spite  of  all  taxes 
and  other  devices,  gets  the  class  of  men  for  which  its  indus- 
trial condition  offers  the  best  chances.  The  only  thing  the 
tariff  does  in  the  matter  is  to  take  from  those  who  have  an 
advantage  here  a  part  of  that  advantage. 


4.  PROTECTIONISM  IS  SOCIALISM 

106.  Simply  to  give  protectionism  a  bad  name  would 
be  to  accomplish  very  little.  When  I  say  that  protectionism 
is  socialism  I  mean  to  classify  it  and  bring  it  not  only  under 
the  proper  heading  but  into  relation  with  its  true  affinities. 
Socialism  is  any  device  or  doctrine  whose  aim  is  to  save  indi- 
viduals from  any  of  the  difficulties  or  hardships  of  the  struggle 
for  existence  and  the  competition  of  life  by  the  intervention  of 
"the  State.^'  Inasmuch  as  "the  State"  never  is  or  can  be 
anything  but  some  other  people,  socialism  is  a  device  for 
making  some  people  fight  the  struggle  for  existence  for 
others.  The  devices  always  have  a  doctrine  behind  them 
which  aims  to  show  why  this  ought  to  be  done. 

107.  The  protected  interests  demand  that  they  be  saved 
from  the  trouble  and  annoyance  of  business  competition, 
and  that  they  be  assured  profits  in  their  undertakings,  by 
"the  State,"  that  is,  at  the  expense  of  their  fellow-citizens. 
If  this  is  not  socialism,  then  there  is  no  such  thing.  If 
employers  may  demand  that  "the  State"  shall  guarantee 
them  profits,  why  may  not  the  employees  demand  that 
"the  State"  shall  guarantee  them  wages?  If  we  are  taxed 
to  provide  profits,  why  should  we  not  be  taxed  for  public 
workshops,  for  insurance  to  laborers,  or  for  any  other 
devices  which  will  give  wages  and  save  the  laborer  from 
the  annoyances  of  life  and  the  risks  and  hardships  of  the 
struggle  for  existence?  The  "we"  who  are  to  pay  changes 
all  the  time,  and  the  turn  of  the  protected  employer  to  pay 
will  surely  come  before  long.    The  plan  of  all  living  on  each 


80    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

other  is  capable  of  great  expansion.  It  is,  as  yet,  far  from 
being  perfected  or  carried  out  completely.  The  protec- 
tionists are  only  educating  those  who  are  as  yet  on  the 
"paying"  side  of  it,  but  who  will  certainly  use  political 
power  to  put  themselves  also  on  the  "receiving"  side  of  it. 
The  argument  that  "the  State"  must  do  something  for  me 
because  my  business  does  not  pay,  is  a  very  far-reaching 
argument.  If  it  is  good  for  pig  iron  and  woolens,  it  is  good 
for  all  the  things  to  which  the  socialists  apply  it. 


Chapter  IV 

SUNDRY  FALLACIES  OF  PROTECTIONISM 

108.  I  can  now  dispose  rapidly  of  a  series  of  current 
fallacies  put  forward  by  the  protectionists.  They  generally 
are  fanciful  or  far-fetched  attempts  to  show  some  equiva- 
lent which  the  taxpayer  gets  for  his  taxes. 

(A)  That  Infant  Industries  can  be  Nourished  up  to 
Independence  and  that  they  then  Become  Productive. 

109.  I  know  of  no  case  where  this  hope  has  been  real- 
ized, although  we  have  been  trying  the  experiment  for 
nearly  a  century.  The  weakest  infants  to-day  are  those 
whom  Alexander  Hamilton  set  out  to  protect  in  1791.  As 
soon  as  the  infants  begin  to  get  any  strength  (if  they  ever 
do  get  any)  the  protective  system  forces  them  to  bear  the 
burden  of  other  infants,  and  so  on  forever.  The  system 
superinduces  hydrocephalus  on  the  infants,  and  instead  of 
ever  growing  to  maturity,  the  longer  they  live,  the  bigger 
babies  they  are.  It  is  the  system  which  makes  them  so, 
and  on  its  own  plan  it  can  never  rationally  be  expected  to 
have  any  other  effect.  (See  further,  under  the  next  fallacy, 
§§  111  ff.) 


SUNDRY  FALLACIES  OF  PROTECTIONISM        81 

110.  Mill  ^  makes  a  statement  of  a  case,  as  within  the 
bounds  of  conceivability,  where  there  might  be  an  advantage 
for  a  young  country  to  protect  an  infant  industry.  He  is 
often  quoted  without  regard  to  the  limitation  of  his  state- 
ment, as  if  he  had  aflfirmed  the  general  expediency  of  pro- 
tection in  new  countries  and  for  infant  industries.  It 
amounts  to  a  misquotation  to  quote  him  without  regard 
to  the  limitations  which  he  specified.  The  statement  which 
he  did  make  is  mathematically  demonstrable.^  The  doc- 
trine so  developed  is  very  familiar  in  private  enterprise.  A 
business  enterprise  may  be  started  which  for  some  years 
will  return  no  profits  or  will  occasion  losses,  but  which  is 
expected  later  to  recoup  all  these.  What  are  the  limits  tvithin 
which  such  an  enterprise  can  succeed?  It  must  either  call 
for  sinking  capital  only  for  a  short  period  (like  building  a 
railroad  or  planting  an  orange  grove),  or  it  must  promise 
enormous  gains  after  it  is  started  (like  a  patented  novelty). 
The  higher  the  rate  of  interest,  as  in  any  new  country,  the 
more  stringent  and  narrow  these  conditions  are.  Mill  said 
that  it  was  conceivable  that  a  case  of  an  industry  might 
occur  in  which  this  same  calculation  might  be  appHed  to 
a  protective  tax.  If,  then,  anybody  says  that  he  can  offer 
an  industry  which  meets  the  conditions,  let  it  be  examined 
to  see  if  it  does  so.  If  protection  is  never  applied  until  such 
a  case  is  offered,  it  will  never  be  applied  at  all.  A  thing 
which  is  mathematically  conceivable  is  one  which  is  not 
absurd;  but  a  thing  which  is  practically  possible  is  quite 
another  thing.  For  myself,  I  strenuously  dissent  from 
Mill's  doctrine  even  as  he  limits  it.  In  the  first  place  the 
state  cannot  by  taxes  work  out  an  industrial  enterprise  of 
a  character  such  that  it,  as  any  one  can  see,  demands  the 
most  intense  and  careful  oversight  by  persons  whose  capital  is 

1  Bk.  V,  ch.  10.  §  1. 

*  It  has  been  developed  mathematically  by  a  French  mathematician  {Journal 
des  Economistes,  August  and  September,  1873,  pp.  285  and  464). 


82    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

at  stake  in  it,  and,  in  the  second  place,  the  state  would  bear 
the  loss,  while  it  lasted,  but  private  interests  would  take 
the  gain  after  it  began. 

(B)  That  Protective  Taxes  do  not  Raise  Prices 
BUT  Lower  Prices. 

111.  To  this  it  is  obvious  to  reply:  what  good  can  they 
then  do  toward  the  end  proposed  .f*  Still  it  is  true  that, 
under  circumstances,  protective  taxes  do  lower  prices.  The 
protectionist  takes  an  infant  industry  in  hand  and  proposes 
to  rear  it  by  putting  on  taxes  to  ward  off  competition,  and 
by  giving  it  more  profits  than  the  world's  market  price 
would  give.  This  raises  the  price.  But  the  consumer  then 
raises  a  complaint.  The  protectionist  turns  to  him  and 
promises  that  by  and  by  there  will  be  "overproduction," 
and  prices  will  fall.  This  arrives  in  due  time,  for  every 
protected  industry  is  organized  as  a  more  or  less  limited 
monopoly,  and  a  monopoly  which  has  overproduced  its 
market,  at  the  price  which  it  wants,  is  the  weakest  industry 
possible  (§  24).  The  consumer  now  wins,  but  a  wail  from 
the  cradle  calls  the  protectionist  back  to  the  infant  indus- 
try, which  is  in  convulsions  from  "overproduction."  Some 
of  the  infants  die.  This  gives  a  new  chance  to  the  others. 
They  combine  for  more  effective  monopoly,  put  the  prices 
up  again  by  limiting  production,  and  go  on  until  "over- 
production" produces  a  new  collapse.  This  is  another 
reason  why  infants  never  win  vitality.  The  net  result  is 
that  the  market  is  in  constant  alternations  of  stringency 
and  laxity,  and  nothing  at  all  is  gained. 

112.  Whenever  we  talk  of  prices  it  should  be  noticed  that 
our  statements  involve  money  —  the  rate  at  which  goods 
exchange  for  money.  If  then  we  want  to  raise  prices,  we 
must  restrict  the  supply  of  goods,  so  that  on  the  doctrine  of 
money  also  we  shall  come  to  the  same  result  as  before,  that 
protective  taxes  lessen  production  and  diminish  wealth. 


SUNDRY  FALLACIES  OF  PROTECTIONISM        83 

113.  The  problem  of  managing  any  monopoly  is  to  dose 
the  market  with  just  the  quantity  which  it  will  take  at  the 
price  which  the  monopolist  wants  to  get.  In  a  qualified 
monopoly,  that  is,  one  which  is  shared  by  a  number  of 
persons,  the  difficulty  is  to  get  agreement  about  the  man- 
agement. They  may  not  have  any  communication  with 
each  other  and  may  compete.  If  so  they  will  overdose  the 
market  and  the  price  will  fall.  Then  they  meet,  to  estab- 
lish communication;  form  an  "association,"  to  get  har- 
monious action,  and  agree  to  divide  the  production  among 
them  and  limit  and  regulate  it,  to  prevent  the  former  mis- 
take and  restore  prices  (§  24). 

(C)  That  we  should  be  a  Purely  Agricultural 
Nation  under  Free  Trade. 

114.  A  purely  agricultural  nation  covering  a  territory  as 
large  as  that  of  the  United  States  is  inconceivable.  The 
distribution  of  industries  now  inside  the  United  States  is 
a  complete  proof  that  no  such  thing  would  come  to  pass, 
for  we  have  absolute  free  trade  inside,  and  manufactures 
are  growing  up  in  the  agricultural  states  just  as  fast  as 
circumstances  favor,  and  just  as  fast  as  they  can  be  profit- 
ably carried  on.  Under  free  trade  there  would  be  a  sub- 
division of  cotton,  woolen,  iron  and  other  industries,  and 
we  should  both  export  and  import  different  varieties  and 
qualities  of  these  goods.  The  southern  states  are  now  manu- 
facturing coarse  cottons  in  competition  with^New  England. 
The  western  •  states  manufacture  coarse  woolens,  certain 
grades  of  leather  and  iron  goods,  etc.,  in  competition  with 
the  East.  Here  we  see  the  exact  kind  of  differentiation 
which  would  take  place  under  free  trade,  and  we  can  see 
the  mischief  of  the  tariff,  whether  on  the  one  hand  it  strikes 
a  whole  category  with  the  same  brutal  ignorance,  or  tries, 
by  cunning  sub-classification,  to  head  off  every  effort  to 


84    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

save  itself  which  the  trade  makes.*  If,  however,  it  was 
conceivable  that  we  should  become  a  purely  agricultural 
nation,  the  only  legitimate  inference  would  be  that  our 
whole  population  could  be  better  supported  in  that  way 
than  in  any  other.  If  there  was  a  greater  profit  in  some- 
thing else  some  of  them  would  go  into  it. 

(D)  That  Communities  which  Manufacture  are  More 
Prosperous  than  those  which  are  Agricultural. 

115.  This  is  as  true  as  if  it  should  be  said  that  all  tall 
men  are  healthy.  It  would  be  answered  that  some  are 
and  some  are  not;  that  tallness  and  health  have  no  con- 
nection. Some  manufacturing  communities  are  prosperous 
and  some  not.  The  self-contradiction  of  protectionism 
appears  in  one  of  its  boldest  forms  in  this  fallacy.  We  are 
told  that  manufactures  are  a  special  blessing.  The  pro- 
tectionist says  that  he  is  going  to  give  us  some.  Instead 
of  that  he  makes  new  demands  on  us,  lays  a  new  burden 
on  us,  gives  us  nothing  but  more  taxes.  He  promises  us 
an  income  and  increases  our  expenditure;  promises  an 
asset  and  gives  a  liability;  promises  a  gift  and  creates  a 
debt;  promises  a  blessing  and  gives  a  burden.  The  very 
thing  which  he  boasts  of  as  a  great  and  beneficial  advan- 
tage gives  us  nothing,  but  takes  from  us  more.  Prosperity 
is  no  more  connected  with  one  form  of  industry  than 
another.  If  it  were  so,  some  of  mankind  would  have,  by 
nature,  a  permanently  better  chance  than  others,  and  no 
one  could  emigrate  to  a  new,  that  is  agricultural  country, 
without  injuring  his  interests.     The  world  is  not  made  so. 

'  See  a  fallacy  under  this  head:  Cunningham,  "Growth  of  English  Industry," 
410,  note. 


SUNDRY  FALLACIES  OF  PROTECTIONISM        85 

(E)  That  it  is  an  Object  to  Diversify  Industry,  and 
THAT  Nations  which  have  Various  Industries  are 
Stronger  than  Others  which  have  not  Various 
Industries. 

116.  It  is  not  an  object  to  diversify  industry,  but  to 
multiply  and  diversify  our  satisfactions,  comforts,  and  en- 
joyments. If  we  can  do  this  by  unifying  our  industry,  in 
greater  measure  than  by  diversifying  it,  then  we  should 
do,  and  we  will  do,  the  former.  It  is  not  a  question  to  be 
decided  a  priori,  but  depends  upon  economic  circumstances. 
If  a  country  has  a  supremacy  in  some  one  industry  it  will 
have  only  one.  California  and  Australia  had  only  one  in- 
dustry until  the  gold  mines  declined  in  productiveness,  that 
is,  until  their  supreme  advantage  over  other  countries  was 
diminished:  they  began  to  diversify  when  they  began  to 
be  less  well  off.  The  oil  region  of  Pennsylvania  has  a  chance 
of  three  industries,  the  old  farming  industry,  coal,  and  oil. 
It  will  have  only  one  industry  so  long  as  oil  gives  chances 
superior  to  those  enjoyed  by  any  other  similar  district. 
When  it  loses  its  unique  advantage  by  nature  it  will  diver- 
sify. The  "strongest"  nation  is  the  one  which  brings  prod- 
ucts into  the  world's  market  which  are  of  high  demand, 
but  which  cost  it  little  toil  and  sacrifice  to  get;  for  it  wUl 
then  have  command  of  all  the  good  things  which  men  can 
get  on  earth  at  little  effort  to  itself.  Whether  the  products 
which  it  offers  are  one  or  numerous  is  immaterial.  All  the 
tariff  has  to  do  with  it  is  that  when  the  American  comes 
into  the  world's  market  with  wheat,  cotton,  tobacco,  and 
petroleum,  all  objects  of  high  demand  by  mankind  and 
little  cost  to  him,  it  forces  him  to  forego  a  part  of  his  due 
advantage  (§§  125,  134). 


86     THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

(F)  That  Manufactures  Give  Value  to  Land. 

117.  This  doctrine  issued  from  the  Agricultural  Bureau. 
It  has  been  thought  a  grand  development  of  the  protec- 
tionist argument.  It  is  a  simple  logical  fallacy  based  on 
some  misconstrued  statistics.  The  value  of  land  depends 
on  supply  and  demand.  The  demand  for  land  is  popula- 
tion. Hence  where  the  population  is  dense  the  value 
of  land  is  great.  Manufactures  can  be  carried  on  only 
where  there  is  a  supply  of  labor,  that  is,  where  the  popula- 
tion is  dense.  Hence  high  value  of  land  and  manufacturing 
industry  are  common  results  of  dense  population.  The 
statistician  of  the  Agricultural  Bureau  connected  them  with 
each  other  as  cause  and  effect,  and  the  New  York  Tribune 
said  that  it  was  the  grandest  contribution  to  political 
economy  since  "the  fingers  of  Horace  Greeley  stifiFened  in 
death";  which  was  true. 

118.  If  manufactures  spring  up  spontaneously  out  of 
original  strength,  and  by  independent  development,  of 
course  they  "add  value  to  land,"  that  is  to  say,  the  district 
has  new  industrial  power  and  every  interest  in  it  is  bene- 
fited; but  if  the  manufactures  have  to  be  protected,  paid 
for,  and  supported,  they  do  not  do  any  good  as  manufac- 
tures but  only  as  a  device  for  drawing  capital  from  else- 
where, as  tribute.  In  this  way,  protective  taxes  do  alter 
the  comparative  value  of  land  in  different  districts.  This 
effect  can  be  seen  under  some  astonishing  phases  in  Con- 
necticut and  other  manufacturing  states.  The  farmers  are 
taxed  to  hire  some  people  to  go  and  live  in  manufacturing 
villages  and  carry  on  manufacturing  there.  This  displace- 
ment of  population,  brought  about  at  the  expense  of  the 
rural  population,  diminishes  the  value  of  agricultural  land 
and  raises  that  of  city  land  right  here  within  the  same 
state.  The  hillside  population  is  being  impoverished,  and 
the  hillside  farms  are  being  abandoned  on  account  of  the 


SUNDRY  FALLACIES  OF  PROTECTIONISM        87 

tribute  levied  on  them  to  swell  the  value  of  mill  sites  and 
adjoining  land  in  the  manufacturing  towns  (§§  120,  137). 

(G)  That  the  Farmer,  if  he  Pays  Taxes  to  Bring  into 
Existence  a  Factory,  wthich  would  not  otherwise 
Exist,  will  Win  more  than  the  Taxes  by  Selling 
Farm  Produce  to  the  Artisans. 

119.  This  is  an  arithmetical  fallacy.  It  proposes  to  get 
three  pints  out  of  a  quart.  The  farmer  is  out  for  the  tax 
and  the  farm  produce  and  he  can  not  get  back  more  than 
the  tax  because,  if  the  factory  owes  its  existence  to  the 
protective  taxes,  it  cannot  make  any  profit  outside  of  the 
taxes.  The  proposition  to  the  farmer  is  that  he  shall  pay 
taxes  to  another  man  who  will  bring  part  of  the  tax  back 
to  buy  produce  with  it.  This  is  to  make  the  farmer  rich. 
The  man  who  owned  stock  in  a  railroad  and  who  rode  on  it, 
paying  his  fare,  in  the  hope  of  swelling  his  own  dividends, 
was  wise  compared  with  a  farmer  who  believes  that  pro- 
tection can  be  a  source  of  gain  to  him. 

120.  Since,  as  I  have  shown  (§  101),  protective  taxes 
act  like  a  reduction  in  the  fertility  of  the  soil,  they  lower 
the  "margin  of  cultivation,"  and  raise  rent.  They  do  not, 
however,  raise  it  in  favor  of  the  agricultural  land  owner, 
for,  by  the  displacement  just  described,  they  take  away 
from  him  to  give  to  the  town  land  owner.  Of  course,  I  do 
not  believe  that  the  protective  taxes  have  really  lowered 
the  margin  of  cultivation  in  this  country,  for  they  have 
not  been  able  to  offset  the  greater  richness  of  the  newest 
land,  and  the  advance  in  the  arts.  What  protection  costs 
us  comes  out  of  the  exuberant  bounty  of  nature  to  us. 
Still  I  know  of  very  few  who  could  not  stand  it  to  be  a 
great  deal  better  off  than  they  are,  and  the  New  England 
farmer  is  the  one  who  has  the  least  chance,  and  the  fewest 
advantages,  with  which  to  endure  protection. 


88    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

(H)  That  Farmers  Gain  by  Protection,  because  it 
Draws  so  many  Laborers  out  of  Competition  with 
them. 

121.  Since  the  farmers  pay  the  taxes  by  which  this 
operation  is  supposed  to  be  produced,  a  simple  question  is 
raised,  viz.,  how  much  can  one  afford  to  pay  to  buy  off  com- 
petition in  his  business?  He  cannot  afford  to  pay  anything 
unless  he  has  a  monopoly  which  he  wants  to  consolidate. 
Our  farmers  are  completely  open  to  competition  on  every 
side.  The  immigration  of  farmers  every  three  or  four  years 
exceeds  all  the  workers  in  all  the  protected  trades.  Hence 
the  farmers,  if  they  take  the  view  which  is  recommended 
to  them,  instead  of  gaining  any  ground,  are  face  to  face 
with  a  task  which  gets  bigger  and  bigger  the  longer  they 
work  at  it.  If  one  man  should  support  another  in  order 
to  get  rid  of  the  latter's  competition  as  a  producer,  that 
would  be  the  case  where  the  taxpayer  supports  soldiers, 
idle  pensioners,  paupers,  etc.  A  protected  manufacturer, 
however,  by  the  hypothesis,  is  not  simply  supported  in 
idleness,  but  he  is  carrying  on  a  business  the  losses  of  which 
must  be  paid  by  those  who  buy  off  his  competition  in  their 
own  production.  On  the  other  hand,  when  farmers  come 
to  market,  they  are  in  free  competition  with  several  other 
sources  of  supply.  Hence,  if  they  did  any  good  to  agri- 
cultural industry  by  hiring  the  artisans  to  go  out  of  com- 
petition with  them,  they  would  have  to  share  the  gain 
with  all  their  competitors  the  world  over  while  paying  all 
the  expense  of  it  themselves. 

122.  The  movement  of  men  over  the  earth  and  the 
movement  of  goods  over  the  earth  are  complementary 
operations.  Passports  to  stop  the  men  and  taxes  to  stop 
the  goods  would  be  equally  legitimate.  Since  it  is,  once 
for  all,  a  fact  that  some  parts  of  the  earth  have  advantages 
for  one  thing  and  other  parts  for  other  things,  men  avail 


SUNDRY  FALLACIES  OF  PROTECTIONISM        89 

themselves  of  the  local  advantages  either  by  moving  them- 
selves to  the  places,  or  by  trading  what  they  produce  where 
they  are  for  what  others  produce  in  the  other  places.  The 
passenger  trains  and  the  freight  trains  are  set  in  motion 
by  the  same  ultimate  economic  fact.  Our  exports  are  all 
bulky  and  require  more  tonnage  than  our  imports.  On 
the  westward  trip,  consequently,  bunks  are  erected  and 
men  are  brought  in  space  where  cotton,  wheat,  etc.,  were 
taken  out.  The  tariff,  by  so  much  as  it  lessens  the  import 
of  goods,  leaves  room  which  the  ship  owners  are  eager  to 
fill  with  immigrants.  To  do  this  they  lower  the  rates. 
Hence  the  tariff  is  a  premium  on  immigration.  The  pro- 
tectionists have  claimed  that  the  tariff  does  favor  immi- 
gration. But  nine-tenths  of  the  immigrants  are  laborers, 
domestic  servants,  and  farmers.^  Probably  more  than  one- 
third  of  the  total  number,  including  women,  find  their  way 
to  the  land.  As  we  have  seen,  the  tariff  also  lowers  the 
profits  of  agriculture,  which  discourages  immigration  and 
the  movement  to  the  land.  Therefore,  if  the  farmer  be- 
lieves what  the  protectionist  tells  him,  he  must  understand 
that  the  taxes  he  pays  bring  in  more  people,  and  raise  the 
value  of  land  by  settling  it,  and  that  they  also  bring  more 
competition,  which  the  farmer  must  buy  off  by  lowering 
the  profits  of  his  own  (the  farming)  industry.  Then,  too, 
so  far  as  the  immigrants  are  artisans,  the  premium  on  immi- 
gration is  a  tax  paid  to  increase  the  supply  of  labor,  that  is, 

1  IMMIGRATION  IN   1884 

Males        Females  Total 

Professional  occupations 2,184  100  2,284 

SkUled  occupations 50,905  4,156  55,061 

Occupations  not  stated 19,778  11,887  31,665 

No  occupation 75,483  169,904  £45,387 

Miscellaneous  occupations 160,159  24,036  184,195 

Total 308,509        210,083        518,592 

Under  miscellaneous  were  106,478  laborers  and  42,050  farmers. 


90    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

to  lower  wages,  although  the  protectionists  say  that  the 
tariff  raises  wages.  Hence  we  see  that  when  a  tax  is  laid, 
in  our  modern  complicated  society,  instead  of  being  a  sim- 
ple and  easy  means  or  method  to  be  employed  for  a  specific 
purpose,  its  action  and  reaction  on  transportation,  land, 
wages,  etc.,  will  produce  erratic,  contradictory,  and  con- 
fused effects,  which  cannot  be  predicted  or  analyzed  thor- 
oughly, and  the  protectionist,  when  he  pleads  three  or  four 
arguments  for  his  system,  is  alleging  three  or  four  features 
of  it  which,  if  properly  analyzed  and  brought  together,  are 
found  to  be  mutually  destructive,  and  cumulative  only  as 
to  the  mischief  they  do  (see  §§  29,  101). 

(7)  That  our  Industries  would  Perish  without 
Protection. 

123.  Those  who  say  this  think  only  of  manufacturing 
establishments  as  "industries."  They  also  talk  of  "our" 
industries.  They  mean  those  we  support  by  the  taxes  we 
pay;  not  those  from  which  we  get  dividends.  No  industry 
will  ever  be  given  up  except  in  order  to  take  up  a  better 
one,  and  if,  under  free  trade,  any  of  our  industries  should 
perish,  it  would  only  be  because  the  removal  of  restrictions 
enabled  some  other  industry  to  offer  so  much  better  rewards 
that  labor  and  capital  would  seek  the  latter.  It  is  plain 
that,  if  a  man  does  not  know  of  any  better  way  to  earn  his 
living  than  the  one  in  which  he  is,  he  must  remain  in  that, 
or  move  to  some  other  place.  If  any  one  can  suppose  that 
the  population  of  the  United  States  could  be  forced,  by 
free  trade,  to  move  away,  he  must  suppose  that  this  coun- 
try cannot  support  its  population,  and  that  we  made  a 
mistake  in  coming  here.  This  argument  is  especially  full  of 
force  if  the  articles  to  be  produced  are  coal,  iron,  wool, 
copper,  timber,  or  any  other  primary  products  of  the  soil. 
For,  if  it  is  said  that  we  cannot  raise  these  products  of  the 


SUNDRY  FALLACIES  OF  PROTECTIONISM        91 

soil  in  competition  with  some  other  part  of  the  earth's  sur- 
face, all  it  proves  is  that  we  have  come  to  the  wrong  spot 
to  seek  them.  If,  however,  the  soil  can  support  the  popu- 
lation under  an  arrangement  by  which  certain  industries 
support  themselves,  and  those  which  do  not  pay  besides, 
then  it  is  plain  that  the  former  are  really  supporting  the 
whole  population  —  part  directly  and  part  indirectly, 
through  a  circuitous  and  wasteful  organization.  Hence 
the  same  strong  and  independent  industries  could  cer- 
tainly still  better  support  the  whole  population,  if  they 
supported  it  directly. 

124.  I  have  been  asked  whether  we  should  have  had 
any  steel  works  in  this  country,  if  we  had  had  no  protection. 
I  reply  that  I  do  not  know;  neither  does  anybody  else,  but 
it  is  certain  that  we  should  have  had  a  great  deal  more  steel, 
if  we  had  had  no  protection. 

125.  "But,"  it  is  said,  "we  should  import  everything." 
Should  we  import  everything  and  give  nothing?  If  so, 
foreigners  would  make  us  presents  and  support  us.  Should 
we  give  equal  value  in  exchange .^^  If  so,  there  would  be  just 
as  much  "industry"  and  a  great  deal  less  "work"  in  that 
way  of  getting  things  than  in  making  them  ourselves.  The 
moment  that  ceased  to  be  true  we  should  make  and  not 
buy.  Suppose  that  a  district,  A,  has  two  million  inhabi- 
tants, one  million  of  whom  produce  a  million  bushels  of 
wheat,  and  one  million  produce  a  million  hundredweight 
of  iron;  and  suppose  that  a  bushel  of  wheat  exchanges  for 
a  hundredweight  of  iron.  Now,  by  improved  transporta- 
tion and  emigration,  suppose  that  a  new  wheat  country,  B, 
is  opened,  and  that  its  people  bring  wheat  to  the  first  dis- 
trict, offering  two  bushels  for  a  hundredweight  of  iron. 
Plainly  they  must  offer  more  than  one  bushel  for  one  hun- 
dredweight, or  it  is  useless  for  them  to  come.  Now  the 
people  of  A,  by  putting  all  their  labor  and  capital  in  iron 
production,    produce    two    million    hundredweight.      They 


92    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

keep  one  million  hundredweight,  and  exchange  one  million 
hundredweight  of  iron  for  two  million  bushels  of  wheat. 
The  destruction  of  their  wheat  industry  is  a  sign  of  a  change 
in  industry  (unifying  and  not  diversifying)  by  which  they 
have  gained  a  million  bushels  of  wheat.  Such  is  the  gain  of 
all  trade.  If  the  gain  did  not  exist,  trade  would  not  be  a 
feature  of  civilization. 


(J)  That  it  would  be  Wise  to  Call  into  Existence 
Various  Industries,  even  at  an  Expense,  if  we  could 
THUS  Offer  Employment  to  all  Kinds  of  Artisans, 

ETC.,  WHO  MIGHT  CoME  TO  US. 

126.  This  would  be  only  maintaining  public  workshops 
at  the  expense  of  the  taxpayers,  and  would  be  open  to  all 
the  objections  which  are  conclusive  against  public  work- 
shops. The  expense  would  be  prodigious,  and  the  return 
little  or  nothing.  This  argument  shows  less  sense  of  com- 
parative cost  and  gain  than  any  other  which  is  ever  pro- 
posed. 

(K)  That  we  Want  to  be  Complete  in  ourselves  and 
Sufficient  to  ourselves,  and  Independent,  as  a 
Nation,  which  State  of  Things  will  be  Produced 
BY  Protection. 

127.  I  will  only  refer  to  what  I  have  already  said  about 
China  and  Japan  (§  69)  as  types  of  what  this  plan  produces. 
If  a  number  of  families  from  among  us  should  be  ship- 
wrecked on  an  island,  their  greatest  woe  would  be  that 
they  could  not  trade  with  the  rest  of  the  world.  They 
might  live  there  "self-contained"  and  "independent,"  ful- 
filling the  ideal  of  happiness  which  this  proposition  offers, 
but  they  would  look  about  them  to  see  a  surfeit  of  things 
which,  as  they  know,  their  friends  at  home  would  like  to 


SUNDRY  FALLACIES  OF  PROTECTIONISM        93 

have,  and  they  would  think  of  all  the  old  comforts  which 
they  used  to  have,  and  which  they  could  not  produce  on 
their  island.     They  might  be  contented  to  live  on  there 
and  make  it  their  home,  if  they  could  exchange  the  former 
things  for  the  latter.     If  now  a  ship  should  chance  that 
way  and  discover  them  and  should  open  communication 
and  trade  between  them  and  their  old  home,  a  protectionist 
philosopher  would  say  to  them:    "You  are  making  a  great 
mistake.     You  ought  to  make  everything  for  yourselves. 
The  wise  thing  to  do  would  be  to  isolate  yourselves  again 
by  taxes  as  soon  as  possible."    We  sent  some  sages  to  the 
Japanese  to  induct  them  into  the  ways  of  civilization,  who, 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  did  tell  them  that  the  first  step  in  civili- 
zation was  to  adopt  a  protective  tariff  and  shut  up  again 
by  taxes  the  very  ports  which  they  had  just  opened. 

(i)  That  Protective  Taxes  are  Necessary  to  Pre- 
vent A  Foreign  Monopoly  from  Getting  Control  op 
OUR  Market. 

128.  It  is  said  that  English  manufacturers  once  com- 
bined to  lower  prices  in  order  to  kill  out  American  manu- 
factures, and  that  they  then  put  up  their  prices  to  monopoly 
rates.  If  they  did  this,  why  did  not  then  other  customers 
send  to  the  United  States  and  buy  the  goods  here  in  the 
first  instance,  and  why  did  not  the  Americans  go  and  buy 
the  goods  of  the  Englishmen's  other  customers  in  the  second 
instance?  If  the  Englishmen  put  down  their  prices  for  their 
whole  market  in  the  first  instance,  why  did  they  not  incur 
a  great  loss?  and,  if  they  raised  it  for  their  whole  market 
in  the  second  instance,  why  did  they  not  yield  the  entire 
market  to  their  competitors?  The  Englishmen  are  said 
to  be  wonderfully  shrewd,  and  are  here  credited  with  the 
most  stupid  and  incredible  folly. 

129.   The   protective   system  puts   us   certainly   m   the 


94    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

hands  of  a  home  monopoly  for  fear  of  the  impossible  chance 
that  we  may  fall  into  the  hands  of  a  foreign  monopoly. 
Before  the  war  we  made  no  first  quality  thread.  We  got 
it  at  four  cents  a  spool  (retail)  of  an  English  monopoly. 
Under  the  tariff  we  were  saved  from  this  by  being  put  into 
the  hands  of  a  home  monopoly  which  charged  five  cents 
a  spool.  In  the  meantime  the  foreign  monopoly  lowered 
thread  to  three  cents  a  spool  (retail)  for  the  Canadians, 
who  were  at  its  mercy.  Lest  we  should  have  to  buy  nickel 
of  a  foreign  monopolist.  Congress  forced  us  to  buy  it  of  the 
owner  of  the  only  mine  in  the  United  States,  and  added 
thirty  cents  a  pound  to  any  price  the  foreigner  might  ask. 

(M)  That  Free  Trade  is  Good  in  Theory  but  Impossi- 
ble IN  Practice;  that  it  would  be  a  Good  Thing  if 
All  Nations  would  have  it. 

130.  That  a  thing  can  be  true  in  theory  and  false  in  prac- 
tice is  the  most  utter  absurdity  that  human  language  can 
express.  For,  if  a  thing  is  true  in  practice  (protectionism, 
for  instance)  the  theory  of  its  truth  can  be  found,  and  that 
theory  will  be  true.  But  it  was  admitted  that  free  trade 
is  true  in  theory.  Hence  two  things  which  are  contradic- 
tory would  both  be  true  at  the  same  time  about  the  same 
thing.  The  fact  is,  that  protectionism  is  totally  impractica- 
ble. It  does  not  work  as  it  is  expected  to  work;  it  does  not 
produce  any  of  the  results  which  were  promised  from  it; 
it  is  never  properly  and  finally  established  to  the  satisfac- 
tion of  its  own  votaries.  They  cannot  let  it  alone.  They 
always  want  to  "correct  inequalities,"  or  revise  it  one  way 
or  another.  It  was  they  who  got  up  the  Tariff  Commission 
of  1882.  Their  system  is  not  capable  of  construction  so 
as  to  furnish  a  normal  and  regular  status  for  industry.  One 
of  them  said  that  the  tariff  would  be  all  right  if  it  could  only 
be  made  stable;    another  said  that  it  ought  to  be  revised 


SUNDRY  FALLACIES  OF  PROTECTIONISM        95 

every  two  years.  One  said  that  it  ought  to  include  every- 
thing; another  said  that  it  would  be  good  "if  it  was  only 
laid  on  the  right  things." 

131.  If  all  nations  had  free  trade,  no  one  of  them  would 
have  any  special  gain  from  it,  just  as,  if  all  men  were  honest, 
honesty  would  have  no  commercial  value.  Some  say  that 
a  man  cannot  afford  to  be  honest  unless  everybody  is  hon- 
est. The  truth  is  that,  if  there  was  one  honest  man  among 
a  lot  of  cheats,  his  character  and  reputation  would  reach 
their  maximum  value.  So  the  nation  which  has  free  trade 
when  the  others  do  not  have  it  gains  the  most  by  compari- 
son with  them.  It  gains  while  they  impoverish  themselves. 
If  all  had  free  trade  all  would  be  better  off,  but  then  no  one 
would  profit  from  it  more  than  others.  If  this  were  not 
true,  if  the  man  who  first  sees  the  truth  and  first  acts  wusely 
did  not  get  a  special  premium  for  it,  the  whole  moral  order 
of  the  universe  would  have  to  be  altered,  for  no  reform  or 
improvement  could  be  tried  until  unanimous  consent  was 
obtained.  If  a  man  or  a  nation  does  right,  the  rewards  of 
doing  right  are  obtained.  They  are  not  as  great  as  could 
be  obtained  if  all  did  right,  but  they  are  greater  than  those 
enjoy  who  still  do  wrong. 

(N)  That  Trade  is  WAR,  so  that  Free  Trade  Methods 
ARE  Unfit  for  it,  and  that  Protective  Taxes  are 
Suited  to  it. 

132.  It  is  evidently  meant  by  this  that  trade  involves  a 
struggle  or  contest  of  competition.  It  might,  however,  as 
well  be  said  that  practicing  law  is  war,  because  it  is  con- 
tentious; or  that  practicing  medicine  is  war,  because  doc- 
tors are  jealous  rivals  of  each  other.  The  protectionists  do, 
however,  always  seem  to  think  of  trade  as  commercial  war. 
One  of  them  was  reported  to  have  said  in  a  speech,  in  the 
late  campaign,  that  nations  would  not  fight  any  more  with 


96     THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

guns  but  with  taxes.  The  nations  are  to  boycott  each 
other.  One  would  think  that  the  experience  our  Southern- 
ers made  of  that  notion  in  the  Civil  War,  upon  which  they 
entered  in  the  faith  that  "cotton  is  king,"  would  have 
suflBced  to  banish  forever  that  antique  piece  of  imbecility, 
a  commercial  war.  If  trade  is  war,  all  the  tariff  can  do 
about  it  is  to  make  A  fight  B's  battles,  although  A  has  his 
own  battles  to  fight  besides. 

(0)  That  Protection  Brings  into  Employment  Labor 
AND  Capital  which  would  otherwise  be  Idle. 

133.  If  there  is  any  labor  or  capital  which  is  idle,  that 
fact  is  a  symptom  of  industrial  disease;  especially  is  this 
true  in  the  United  States.  If  a  laborer  is  idle  he  is  in  danger 
of  starving  to  death.  If  capital  is  idle  it  is  producing  noth- 
ing to  its  owner,  who  depends  on  it,  and  is  suffering  loss. 
Therefore,  if  labor  or  capital  is  idle,  some  antecedent  error 
or  folly  must  have  produced  a  stoppage  in  the  industrial 
organization.  The  cure  is,  not  to  lay  some  more  taxes,  but 
to  find  the  error  and  correct  it.  If  then  things  are  in  their 
normal  and  healthy  condition,  the  labor  and  capital  of  the 
country  are  employed  as  far  as  possible  under  the  existing 
organization.  We  are  constantly  trying  to  improve  our 
exchange  and  credit  systems  so  as  to  keep  all  our  capital 
all  the  time  employed.  Such  improvements  are  important 
and  valuable,  but  to  make  them  cost  more  thought  and 
skillful  labor  than  to  invent  machines.  Hence  Congress 
cannot  do  that  work  by  discharging  a  volley  of  taxes  at 
selected  articles,  and  leaving  those  taxes  to  find  out  the 
proper  points  to  affect,  and  to  exert  the  proper  influence. 
It  takes  intelligent  and  hard-working  men  to  do  it.  The 
faith  that  anything  else  can  do  it  is  superstition. 


SUNDRY  FALLACIES  OF  PROTECTIONISM        97 

(P)  That  a  Young  Nation  Needs  Protection  and  will 
Suffer  some  Disadvantage  in  Free  Exchange  with 
AN  Old  One. 

134.  The  younger  a  nation  is  the  more  important  trade 
is  to  it  (cf.  §§  127  ff.)-  The  younger  a  nation  is  the  more  it 
wins  by  trade,  for  it  offers  food  and  raw  materials  which 
are  objects  of  greatest  necessity  to  old  nations.  The  things 
England  buys  of  us  are  far  more  essential  to  her  than  what 
she  buys  of  France  or  Germany.  The  strong  party  in  an 
exchange  is  not  the  rich  party,  or  the  old  party,  but  the 
one  who  is  favored  by  supply  and  demand  —  the  one  who 
brings  to  the  exchange  the  thing  which  is  more  rare  and 
more  eagerly  wanted.^  If  a  poor  woman  went  into  Stewart's 
store  to  buy  a  yard  of  calico,  she  did  not  have  to  pay  more 
because  Stewart  was  rich.  She  paid  less  because  he  used 
his  capital  to  serve  her  better  and  at  less  price  than  any- 
body else  could.  England  takes  60  per  cent  of  all  our  ex- 
ports. We  sell,  first,  wheat  and  provisions,  prime  articles 
of  food;  second,  cotton,  the  most  important  raw  material 
now  used  by  mankind;  third,  tobacco,  the  most  universal 
luxury  and  the  one  for  which  there  is  the  intensest  demand; 
fourth,  petroleum,  the  lighting  material  in  most  universal 
use. .  These  are  things  which  are  rare  and  of  high  demand. 
We  are,  therefore,  strong  in  the  market.  Protection  only 
robs  us  of  part  of  our  advantage  (§  116). 

(Q)  That  we  Need  Protection  to  Get  Ready  for 

War. 

135.  We  have  no  army,  or  navy,  or  fortifications  worth 
mentioning.  We  are  wasting  more  by  protective  taxes  in 
a  year  than  would  be  necessary  to  build  a  first-class  navy 

'  See  a  fallacy  under  this  point:  Cunningham,  "Growth  of  English  Industry," 
410  note. 


98    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

and  fortify  our  whole  seacoast.  It  is  said  that,  in  some  way, 
the  taxes  get  us  ready  for  war,  and  yet  in  fact  we  are  not 
ready  for  war.  It  is  plain  that  this  argument  is  only  a 
pretense  put  forward  to  try  to  cover  the  real  motives  of 
protection.  If  we  prefer  to  go  without  army,  navy,  and 
fortifications,  as  we  now  do,  then  the  best  way  to  get  ready 
for  war,  consistently  with  that  policy,  is  to  get  as  rich  as  we 
can.  Then  we  can  count  on  buying  anything  in  the  world 
which  anybody  else  has  got  and  which  we  need.  Protection, 
then,  which  lessens  our  wealth,  is  only  diminishing  our 
power  for  war. 

(R)  That  Protectionism  Produces  some  Great 
Moral  Advantages. 

136.  It  is  a  very  suspicious  thing  when  a  man  who  sets 
out  to  discuss  an  economic  question  shifts  over  on  the 
"moral"  ground.  Not  because  economics  and  morals  have 
nothing  to  do  with  each  other.  On  the  contrary,  they  meet 
at  a  common  boundary  line,  and,  when  both  are  sound, 
straight  and  consistent  lines  run  from  one  into  the  other. 
Capital  is  the  first  requisite  of  all  human  effort  for  goods 
of  any  kind,  and  the  increase  of  capital  is  therefore  the 
expansion  of  chances  that  intellectual,  moral,  and  spiritual 
good  may  be  won.  The  moral  question  is:  How  will  the 
chances  be  used-f^  If,  then,  the  economic  analysis  shows 
that  protective  taxes  lessen  capital,  it  follows  that  those 
taxes  lessen  the  regular  chances  for  all  higher  good. 

137.  It  is  argued  that  hardship  disciplines  a  man  and 
is  good  for  him;  hence,  that  the  free  traders,  who  want 
people  to  do  what  is  easiest,  would  corrupt  them,  and  that 
protectionists,  by  "making  work,"  bring  in  salutary  dis- 
cipline for  the  people.  This  is  the  effect  upon  those  who 
pay  the  taxes.  The  counter-operation  on  the  beneficiaries 
of  the  system  I  have  never  seen  developed.     Bastiat  said 


SUNDRY  FALLACIES  OF  PROTECTIONISM        99 

that  the  model  at  which  the  protectionist  was  aiming  was 
Sisyphus,  who  was  condemned  in  Hades  to  roll  a  stone  to 
the  top  of  a  hill,  from  which,  as  soon  as  he  got  it  there,  it 
rolled  down  again  to  the  bottom.  Then  he  rolled  it  up 
again,  and  so  on  to  all  eternity.  Here  then  was  infinity  of 
effort,  zero  of  result;  the  ultimate  type  to  which  the  pro- 
tectionist system  would  come.  Somebody  pitied  Sisyphus, 
to  whom  he  replied:  "Thou  fool!  I  enjoy  everlasting 
hope!"  If  Sisyphus  could  extract  moral  consolation  from 
his  case,  I  am  not  prepared  to  deny  but  that  a  New  Eng- 
land farmer,  ground  between  the  upper  millstone  of  free 
competition,  in  his  production,  with  the  Mississippi  Valley, 
and  the  nether  millstone  of  protective  taxes  on  all  his  con- 
sumption, may  derive  some  moral  consolation  from  liis 
case.  There  are  a  great  many  people  who  are  apparently 
ready  to  inflict  salutary  chastisement  on  the  American 
citizen  for  his  welfare  —  and  their  own  advantage. 

138.  The  protectionist  doctrine  is  that  ij  my  earnings  are 
taken  from  me  and  given  to  my  neighbor,  and  he  spends  them  on 
himself,  there  will  he  important  moral  gains  to  the  community 
which  loill  he  lost  if  I  keep  my  own  earnings,  and  spend  them 
on  myself.  The  facts  of  experience  are  all  to  the  contrary. 
When  a  man  keeps  his  own  earnings  he  is  frugal,  temper- 
ate, prudent,  and  honest.  When  he  gets  and  lives  on 
another  man's  earnings,  he  is  extravagant,  wasteful,  luxu- 
rious, idle,  and  covetous.  The  effects  on  the  community 
in  either  case  correspond. 

139.  The  truth  is  that  protectionism  demoralizes  and 
miseducates  a  people  (§§  89,  153,  155).  It  deprives  them 
of  individual  self-reliance  and  energy,  and  teaches  them 
to  seek  crafty  and  unjust  advantages.  It  breaks  down  the 
skill  of  great  merchants  and  captains  of  industry,  and  de- 
velops the  skill  of  lobbyists.  It  gives  faith  in  monopoly, 
combinations,  jobbery,  and  restriction,  instead  of  giving 
faith  in  energy,  free  enterprise,  public  purity,  and  freedom. 


100     THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

Illustrations  of  this  occur  all  the  time.  Objection  has  been 
made  to  the  introduction  of  machines  to  stop  the  smoke 
nuisance  because  they  would  interfere  in  the  competition 
of  anthracite  and  bituminous  coal.  People  have  resisted 
the  execution  of  ordinances  against  gambling  houses  be- 
cause said  houses  "make  trade"  for  their  neighbors.  The 
theater  men  recently  made  an  attempt  to  get  regulations 
adopted  against  skating  rinks  —  purely  on  moral  grounds. 
The  industries  of  the  country  all  run  to  the  form  of  com- 
binations.^ Our  wisdom  is  developed,  not  in  the  great  art 
of  production,  but  in  the  tactics  of  managing  a  combination, 
and  while  we  sustain  all  the  causes  and  all  the  great  prin- 
ciples of  this  system  of  business  we  denounce  "monopoly" 
and  "corporations." 

(S)  That  a  "Worker  m.\y  Gain  More  by  Having  his 
Industry  Protected  than  he  will  Lose  by  Having 
TO  Pay  Dearly  for  what  he  Consumes.  A  System 
which  Raises  Prices  all  round  —  like  that  in  the 
United  States  at  present  —  is  Oppressive  to  Con- 
sumeirs,  but  is  most  disadvantageous  to  those  who 
Consume  without  Producing  anything,  and  Does 
Little,  if  Any,  Injury  to  those  who  Produce  More 
THAN  they  Consume." 

140.  This  is  an  English  contribution  to  the  subject 
dropped  in  passing  by  a  writer  on  economic  history  .^  It 
is  a  noteworthy  fact  that  the  "historical  economists"  and 
others  who  deride  political  economy  as  a  science  do  not 
desist  from  it,  but  at  once  set  to  work  to  make  very  bad 
political  economy  of  the  "abstract"  or  "deductive"  sort. 

^  See  an  interesting  collection  of  illustrations  in  an  article  on  "Lords  of  In- 
dustry "  in  the  North  American  Review  for  June,  1884.  The  futile  criticisms  at 
the  end  of  the  article  do  not  affect  the  value  of  the  facts  collected. 

^  Cunningham,  "Growth  of  English  Industry  and  Commerce,"  316,  note  2. 
(See  also  §§  114,  134.) 


SUNDRY  FALLACIES  OF  PROTECTIONISM       101 

The  passage  quoted  involves  three  or  four  fallacies  already 
noticed,  and  an  assumption  of  the  truth  of  protectionism 
as  a  philosophy.  As  we  have  abundantly  established, 
"workers"  gain  nothing  by  protection  in  their  production 
(§  48).  Also,  "a  system  which  raises  prices  all  around" 
must  either  lessen  the  demand  and  requirement  for  money, 
i.e.,  restrict  business  and  the  supply  of  goods  (§  112),  or 
it  must  increase  the  amount  of  money.  In  the  former  case 
it  could  not  but  injure  "workers";  in  the  latter  case  we 
should  find  ourselves  dealing  with  a  greenback  fallacy. 
But  passing  by  that,  who  are  they  who  consume  more  than 
they  produce.''  I  can  think  only  of  (1)  princes,  pensioners, , 
sinecurists,  protected  persons,  and  paupers,  who  draw  sup- 
port from  taxes,  and  (2)  swindlers,  confidence  men,  and 
others  who  live  by  their  wits  on  the  produce  of  others. 
Those  under  (1),  if  they  receive  fixed  money  grants  or  sub- 
sidies, find  an  advance  in  price  most  disadvantageous.  So 
the  protected,  of  course,  as  consumers  of  others'  products, 
when  they  spend  what  they  have  received  by  protection, 
suffer.  Who  are  they  who  produce  more  than  they  con- 
sume? I  can  think  only  of  (1)  taxpayers,  and  (2)  victims 
of  fraud  and  of  those  economic  errors  which  give  one  man's 
earnings  to  another's  use.  Rise  in  price  is  just  as  advan- 
tageous to  this  class  as  it  was  disadvantageous  to  the  other, 
on  the  same  hypothesis,  viz.,  if  they  pay  fixed  money  taxes 
to  the  parasites,  and  can  sell  their  products  for  more  money. 
Evidently  the  writer  did  not  understand  correctly  what  his 
two  classes  consisted  of,  and  he  put  the  protected  "workers" 
in  the  wrong  one.  If  in  industry  a  person  should  produce 
more  than  he  consumes,  he  could  give  it  away,  or  it  would 
decay  on  his  hands.  If  he  should  consume  more  than  he 
produced,  he  would  run  in  debt  and  become  bankrupt.^ 
Protection  has  nothing  to  do  with  that. 

^  Mill,  "Political  Economy,"  Bk.  I,  ch.  5,  §  5.  Cairnes,  "Leading  Principles," 
ch.  I,  §  5. 


102    THE  FORGOTTEN   MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

(T)  That  "A  Duty  may  at  once  Protect  the  Native 
Manufacturer  Adequately,  and  Recoup  the  Coun- 
try FOR  THE  Expense  of  Protecting  him." 

141.  This  is  Professor  Sidgwick's  doctrine.^  It  has  given 
great  comfort  to  our  protectionists  because  it  is  put  for- 
ward by  an  Englishman  and  a  Cambridge  professor.  It  is 
offered  under  the  "art"  of  political  economy.  It  is  a  new 
thing;  an  a  priori  art.  The  "may"  in  it  deprives  it  of 
the  character  of  a  doctrine  or  dogma  such  as  our  less  cul- 
tivated protectionists  give  us  —  "Protective  taxes  come  out 
of  the  foreigner"  —  but  it  is  not  a  maxim  of  art.  It  has  the 
air  of  a  very  astute  contrivance  (see  §  3),  and  is  therefore 
very  captivating  to  many  people,  and  it  is  very  diflBcult 
to  dissect  and  to  expose  in  a  simple  and  popular  way.  It 
has  therefore  given  great  trouble  and  done  great  mischief. 
It  is,  however,  a  complete  error.  It  is  not  possible  in  any 
way  or  in  any  degree  to  use  duties  so  as  to  make  the  for- 
eigner pay  for  protection. 

142.  Professor  Sidgwick  states  the  hypothetical  instance 
which  he  sets  up  to  prove  by  illustration  that  there  "may" 
be  such  a  case,  as  follows:  "Suppose  that  a  five  per  cent 
duty  is  imposed  on  foreign  silks,  and  that,  in  consequence, 
after  a  certain  interval,  half  the  silks  consumed  are  the  prod- 
uct of  native  industry,  and  that  the  price  of  the  whole  has 
risen  2|  per  cent.  It  is  obvious  that,  under  these  circum- 
stances, the  other  half,  which  comes  from  abroad,  yields 
the  state  five  per  cent,  while  the  tax  levaed  from  the  con- 
sumers on  the  whole  is  only  2f  per  cent;  so  that  the  nation, 
in  the  aggregate,  is  at  this  time  losing  nothing  by  protec- 
tion, except  the  cost  of  collecting  the  tax,  while  a  loss 
equivalent  to  the  whole  tax  falls  on  the  foreign  producer." 

143.  It  is  necessary,  in  the  first  place,  to  complete  the 
hypothesis  which  is  included  in  this  case.    Let  us  assume 

^  "Political  Economy,"  491-492. 


SUNDRY  FALLACIES  OF  PROTECTIONISM      103 

that  the  consumption  of  silk,  when  all  was  imported,  was 
100  yards  and  that  the  price  was  $1  per  yard.  Then  the 
following  points  are  taken  for  granted,  although  not  stated 
in  the  case  as  it  is  put:  (1)  That  the  state  needs  $5  revenue; 
(2)  that  it  has  determined  to  get  this  out  of  the  consumers 
of  silk;  (3)  that  the  advance  in  price  does  not  diminish  the 
consumption;  (4)  that  the  tax  forces  a  reduction  of  price 
for  the  silk  in  the  whole  outside  market;  (5)  that  the 
"silk''  in  question  is  the  same  thing  after  the  tax  is  laid 
as  before.  Of  these  assumptions,  3,  4,  and  5  are  totally 
inadmissible,  but,  if  they  be  admitted  in  the  first  instance, 
and  if  the  doctrine  of  the  case  which  is  put  be  deduced,  it 
is  this:  If  the  part  imported  multiplied  by  the  tax  is  equal 
to  the  total  consumption  multiplied  by  the  advance  in 
price,  the  consumers  can  pay  the  latter  in  protection,  for 
it  is  equal  to  the  former,  and  the  former,  which  is  paid  to 
the  government  by  the  foreigner,  is  what  the  consumers 
of  silk  must  otherwise  have  paid. 

144.  Obviously  this  deduction  is  arithmetically  incor- 
rect, even  on  the  hypothesis.  In  the  first  place,  the  govern- 
ment has  not  obtained  $5  revenue  which  it  needed,  but 
$2..50  (5  cents  on  50  yards).  In  the  second  place,  the 
foreigner  sells  at  $1.02|  (net  97|)  the  silk  which  he  used  to 
sell  for  $1.  He  therefore  gets  back  from  the  consumers 
2^  cents  per  yard  on  50  yards,  or  $1.25  out  of  the  $2.50 
which  he  has  paid  to  the  government.  Also,  the  domestic 
silk  to  compete  must  be  equal  to  the  dollar  imported  silk 
which  now  sells  for  $1.02^.  Hence,  the  consumers  really 
pay  in  protection  only  2|  cents  on  50  yards,  .i.e  $1.25. 
This  case,  then,  is,  that  the  foreigner  pays  $1.25  revenue, 
and  the  consumers  pay  $1.25  revenue  and  $1.25  protec- 
tion. Hence  the  result  is  not  at  all  what  is  asserted,  and 
there  is  no  such  operation  of  the  contrivance  as  was  ex- 
pected. But  the  government  needs  $2.50  more  revenue, 
the  operation   of   its  tax  having  been  interfered  with  by 


104    THE  FORGOTTEN   MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

protection.  As  there  is  no  equivalence  or  compensation 
in  the  case  as  it  already  stands,  it  is  evident  that  the  effect 
of  any  further  tax,  instead  of  bringing  about  equivalence 
or  compensation,  will  be  to  depart  from  such  a  result  still 
further. 

145.  It  is,  however,  impossible  to  admit  assumptions 
3,  4,  and  5  above,  or  to  deal  with  any  economic  problem 
by  any  arithmetical  process.  The  result  above  reached  is 
totally  incorrect  and  only  serves  to  clear  the  ground  for  a 
correct  analysis.  The  producer  may  have  to  bear  part  of 
a  tax,  if  he  is  under  the  tax  jurisdiction,  or  if  he  has  a  monop- 
oly. If  he  has  no  monopoly,  and  is  not  under  the  tax  juris- 
diction, and  works  for  the  world's  market,  he  cannot  lower 
his  price  in  order  to  assume  part  of  the  tax.  Wliat  he  does 
is  that  he  differentiates  his  commodity.  This  is  the  fact 
in  the  art  of  production  which  is  established  by  abundant 
experience.  It  is  the  explanation  of  the  constant  com- 
plaint, under  the  protective  system,  of  "fraud"  and  of 
the  constant  demand  for  subclassification  in  the  tariff 
schedules.  The  protected  product  never  is,  at  least  at 
first,  as  good  in  quality  as  the  imported  article  which  it 
aims  to  supersede.  Hence  the  foreigner,  if  he  desires  to 
retain  the  protected  market,  can  prepare  a  special  quality 
for  that  market.  The  "silk"  after  the  tax  is  laid  is  not 
the  same  silk  as  before.  It  nets  to  the  foreign  producer 
97^  cents,  and  pays  him  business  profits  at  that  price. 
Therefore  when  he  sells  it  at  $1,021  he  gets  back  the  whole 
tax  from  the  consumers.  The  domestic  silk  sold  at  $1.02^ 
is  no  better  than  might  have  been  obtained  for  97|  cents. 
Hence  the  consumers  are  paying  a  tax  for  protection  which 
is  full  and  equal  to  the  revenue  rate.  The  fact  that  the 
price  has  fallen  to  $1.02|,  and  is  not  $1.05,  evidently  proves 
that  instead  of  disproving  it,  as  many  believe. 

146.  Thus  this  case  falls  to  pieces.    It  gains  a  momen- 
tary  plausibility   from   the   erroneous   assumptions   which 


SUMMARY  AND  CONCLUSION  105 

are  implicit  in  it.  The  foreign  producer  may  suffer  a  nar- 
rowing of  his  market  and  a  reduction  of  his  aggregate  prof- 
its, but  there  is  no  way  to  make  him  tributary  (unless  he 
has  a  monopoly)  either  to  the  treasury  or  the  protected 
interests  of  the  taxing  country.^  If  it  was  true  m  general, 
or  in  any  limited  number  of  cases,  that  a  country  which 
lays  protective  taxes  can  make  foreigners  pay  those  taxes, 
then  England,  which  has  had  no  protective  taxes  since 
(say)  1850,  and  has  been  surrounded  by  countries  which 
have  had  more  or  less  protective  taxes,  must  have  been 
paying  tribute  to  them  all  this  time  and  must  have  been 
steadily  impoverished  accordingly. 


Chapter  V 

SUMMARY  AND  CONCLUSION 

147.  I  have  now  examined  protectionism  impartially  on 
its  own  grounds,  assuming  them  to  be  true,  and  adversely 
from  ground  taken  against  it,  and  have  reviewed  a  series 
of  the  commonest  arguments  put  forward  in  its  favor.  If 
now  we  return,  with  all  the  light  we  have  obtained,  to  test 
the  assumptions  which  we  found  in  protectionism,  that  the 
people  would  not  organize  their  industry  wisely  under 
liberty,  and  that  protective  taxes  are  the  correct  device  for 
bringing  about  a  better  organization,  we  find  that  those 
two  assumptions  are  totally  false  and  have  no  semblance 
of  claim  upon  our  confidence.  At  every  step  the  dogmas 
of  protectionism,  its  claims,  its  apparatus,  have  proved 
fallacious,  absurd,  and  impracticable.  We  can  now  group 
together  some  general  criticisms  of  protectionism  which 
our  investigation  suggests. 

1  I  published  a  criticism  of  this  case  in  the  London  Economist,  December  1.  1883. 


106    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

148.  We  have  taken  the  protectionist's  own  definition 
of  a  protective  duty,  and  have  found  that  such  a  duty, 
instead  of  increasing  national  wealth,  must,  at  every  step, 
and  by  every  incident  of  its  operation,  waste  labor  and 
capital,  lower  the  eflficiency  of  the  national  industry,  weaken 
the  country  in  trade,  and  consequently  lower  the  standard 
of  comfort  of  the  whole  population.  We  have  found  that 
protected  industries,  according  to  the  statement  of  the 
protectionists,  do  not  produce,  but  consume.  If  then  these 
industries  are  the  ones  which  make  us  rich,  consumption  is 
production  and  destruction  produces.  The  object  of  a  pro- 
tective duty  is  "to  effect  the  diversion  of  a  part  of  the 
capital  and  labor  of  the  people  out  of  the  channels  in  which 
it  would  run  otherwise,  into  channels  favored  or  created 
by  law"  (§  13).  We  have  seen  that  the  channels  into  which 
the  labor  and  capital  of  the  people  are  to  be  diverted  are 
offered  by  the  industries  which  do  not  pay.  Hence  protec- 
tionism is  found  to  mean  that  national  prosperity  is  to  be 
produced  by  forcing  labor  and  capital  into  employments 
where  the  capital  cannot  be  reproduced  with  the  same 
increase  which  could  be  won  by  it  elsewhere.  If  that  is 
so,  then  capital  in  those  employments  will  be  wasted,  and 
the  final  outcome  of  our  investigation,  which  must  be  made 
the  primary  maxim  of  the  art  of  national  prosperity  under 
protectionism,  is  that  Waste  makes  Wealth.  Such  is  its 
outcome  when  regarded  as  an  economic  philosophy. 

149.  As  regards  the  social  and  jural  relations  which  are 
established  between  citizen  and  citizen,  protectionism  is 
proved  by  a  half-dozen  independent  analyses  of  it  to  be 
simply  a  device  for  forcing  us  to  levy  tribute  on  each  other. 
If  the  law  brings  a  cent  to  A  it  must  have  taken  it  from  B, 
or  else  it  must  have  produced  it  out  of  nothing,  that  is,  it 
must  be  magic.  Every  soul  pays  protective  taxes.  If, 
then,  anybody  gets  anything  from  them,  he  needs  to  re- 
member what  they  cost  him,  and  he  should  insist  on  casting 


SUMMARY  AND  CONCLUSION  107 

up  both  sides  of  the  account.    If  anybody  gets  nothing  from 
them,  then  he  pays  the  taxes  and  gets  no  equivalent. 

150.  During  the  anti-corn-law  campaign  in  England,  a 
writer  in  the  Westminster  Review  illustrated  protectionism 
by  the  story  of  the  monkeys  in  a  cage,  each  of  whom  re- 
ceived for  his  dinner  a  piece  of  bread.  Each  monkey 
dropped  his  own  piece  of  bread  and  grabbed  his  neighbor's. 
The  consequence  was  that  soon  the  floor  of  the  cage  was 
strewn  with  fragments,  and  each  monkey  had  to  make  the 
best  dinner  he  could  from  these.  It  is  a  good  and  fair  illus- 
tration. I  saw  a  story  recently  in  a  protectionist  newspaper 
about  the  peasants  in  the  Soudan.  Each  owns  pigeons, 
and  at  evening,  when  the  pigeons  come  home,  each  tries 
to  entice  as  many  of  his  neighbors'  pigeons  as  he  can  into 
his  own  pigeon  house.  "All  of  them  do  the  same  thing, 
and  therefore  each  gets  caught  in  his  turn.  They  know  this 
perfectly  well,  but  no  Egyptian  fellah  could  resist  the  temp- 
tation of  cheating  his  neighbor."  They  ought  to  tax  each 
other's  pigeons  all  around.  Then  they  w^ould  put  them- 
selves at  once  on  the  level  of  free  and  enlightened  Ameri- 
cans. The  protectionist  assures  me  that  it  is  for  the  good 
of  the  community  and  for  my  good  that  he  should  tax  me. 
I  reply  that,  in  his  language,  "these  are  fine  theories,"  but 
that  whether  it  is  good  for  the  community  or  not,  and 
whether  it  is  good  for  me  or  not,  that  he  should  tax  me,  I 
can  see  that  it  is  for  his  good  that  he  should  tax  me.  Then 
he  says:   "Now  you  are  abusive." 

151.  If  protectionism  is  anything  else  than  mutual  trihutBy 
then  it  is  magic.  The  whole  philosophy  of  it  comes  down  to 
questions  like  this:  How  much  can  I  afford  to  pay  a  man 
for  hiring  me?  How  much  can  I  afford  to  pay  a  man  for 
trading  with  me.^  How  much  can  I  afford  to  pay  a  man  to 
cease  to  compete  with  me  in  my  production.?  How  much 
can  I  afford  to  pay  a  man  to  go  and  compete  with  those  who 
supply  me  my  consumption?    It  is  only  an  expensive  way  to 


108    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

get  what  we  could  get  for  nothing  if  it  was  worth  having  (§  89). 
It  is  admitted  that  one  man  cannot  lift  himself  by  his  boot 
straps.  Suppose  that  a  thousand  men  stand  in  a  ring  and 
each  takes  hold  of  the  other's  boot  straps  reciprocally  and 
they  all  lift,  can  the  whole  group  lift  itself  as  a  group? 
That  is  what  protection  comes  to  just  as  soon  as  we  have 
drawn  out  into  light  the  other  side,  the  cost  side  of  it.  What- 
ever we  win  on  one  side,  we  must  pay  for  by  at  least  equal 
cost  on  another.  The  losses  will  all  be  distributed  as  net 
pure  injury  to  the  community.  The  harm  of  protection  lies 
here.  It  is  not  measured  by  the  tax.  It  is  measured  by  the 
total  crippling  of  the  national  industry.  We  might  as  well 
say  that  it  would  be  a  good  thing  to  put  snags  in  the  rivers, 
to  fell  trees  across  the  roads,  to  dull  all  our  tools,  as  to  say 
that  unnecessary  taxation  could  work  a  blessing.  Men 
have  argued  that  to  destroy  machines  was  to  do  a  beneficial 
thing,  and  I  have  recently  read  an  article  in  a  Boston  paper, 
quoting  a  Massachusetts  man  who  thinks  that  what  we 
need  is  another  war  in  the  United  States.  Such  men  may 
beheve  that  protective  taxes  work  a  blessing,  but  to  those 
who  will  see  the  truth,  it  is  plain  that,  when  the  whole 
effect  of  the  protective  system  is  distributed,  it  benefits 
nobody.  It  is  a  dead  weight  and  loss  upon  everybody, 
and  those  who  think  that  they  win  by  it  would  be  far  better 
off  in  a  community  where  no  such  system  existed,  but  where 
each  man  earned  what  he  could  and  kept  what  he  earned. 

152.  There  is  a  school  of  political  science  in  this  country 
in  whose  deed  of  foundation  it  is  provided  that  the  pro- 
fessors shall  teach  how  "by  suitable  tariff  legislation,  a 
nation  may  keep  its  productive  industry  alive,  cheapen  the 
cost  of  commodities,  and  oblige  foreigners  to  sell  to  it  at 
low  prices,  while  contributing  largely  toward  defraying  the 
expenses  of  the  government."  ^  Is  not  that  a  fine  thing? 
Those  professors  ought  to  likewise  provide  us   a   panacea, 

*  Quoted  by  Taussig:  "History  of  the  Existing  Tariff,"  73. 


SUMMARY  AND   CONCLUSION  109 

the  philosopher's  stone,  a  formula  for  squaring  the  circle, 
and  all  the  other  desiderata  of  universal  happiness.  It 
would  be  only  a  trifle  for  them.  The  only  fear  is  that  they 
may  write  the  secret  which  they  are  to  teach  in  books,  and 
that  other  nations  to  whom  we  are  "foreigners,"  may 
learn  it.  Then  while  Englishmen,  Frenchmen,  and  Ger- 
mans work  for  us  at  low  prices  and  pay  our  taxes,  we  shall 
be  forced  to  work  for  them  at  low  prices  and  pay  their 
taxes,  and  the  old  somber  misery  will  settle  down  upon  the 
world  again  the  same  as  ever. 

153.  Some  years  ago  we  were  told  that  protection  was 
necessary  because  we  had  a  big  debt  to  pay.  Well,  we  have 
paid  the  debt  until  we  have  reduced  it  from  $78.25  per 
head  to  $28.41  per  head.  We,  the  people,  have  also  raised 
our  credit  until  the  annual  debt  charge  has  been  reduced 
from  $4.29  per  head  to  95  cents  per  head.  Now  it  is  neces- 
sary to  keep  up  the  debt  in  order  to  keep  up  the  taxes,  and 
protectionism  is  now  most  efficient  in  forcing  wasteful  and 
corrupting  expenditures  to  get  rid  of  revenue,  lest  a  surplus 
should  furnish  an  argument  for  reducing  taxation.  This 
is  right  on  the  doctrine  that  waste  makes  wealth. 

154.  They  tell  us  that  protection  has  produced  prosper- 
ity, and  when  we  ask  them  to  account  for  hard  times  in 
spite  of  the  tariff,  they  say  that  hard  times  are  caused  by 
the  free  traders  who  will  not  keep  still.  Therefore  the  pros- 
perity produced  hy  protection  is  so  precarious  that  it  can  he 
overthrown  hy  only  talking  about  free  trade.  They  denounce 
laissez-faire,  or  "let  alone,"  but  the  only  question  is  when 
to  let  alone,  when  to  keep  still.  They  do  not  let  the  tariff 
alone  if  they  want  to  revise  it  to  suit  them,  or  want  to 
make  it  "equitable."  When  they  get  it  "equitable"  they 
will  let  it  alone,  but  that  insures  agitation,  and  makes  sure 
that  they  will  cause  it,  for  an  indefinite  time  to  come.  On 
the  other  hand  the  victims  of  the  tariff  will  not  keep  still. 
Their  time  to  "let  alone"  is  when  it  is  repealed.     If  the 


110    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

tariff  did  not  hurt  somebody  somewhere  it  would  not  do 
any  good  to  anybody  anywhere,  and  the  victims  will  resist.^ 
Mr.  Lincoln  used  to  tell  a  story  about  hearing  a  noise  in 
the  next  room.  He  looked  in  and  found  Bob  and  Tad 
scuffling.  "What  is  the  matter,  boys?"  said  he.  "It  is 
Tad,"  replied  Bob,  "who  is  trying  to  get  my  knife."  "Oh, 
let  him  have  it.  Bob,"  said  Mr.  Lincoln,  "just  to  keep  him 
quiet."  "No!"  said  Bob,  "it  is  my  knife  and  I  need  it  to 
keep  me  quiet."  Mr.  Lincoln  used  the  story  to  prove  that 
there  is  no  foundation  for  peace  save  truth  and  justice. 
Now,  in  this  case,  the  man  whose  earnings  are  being  taken 
from  him  needs  them  to  keep  him  quiet.  Our  fathers  fought 
for  free  soil,  and  if  we  are  worthy  to  be  their  sons  we  shall 
fight  for  free  trade,  which  is  the  necessary  complement  of 
free  soil.  If  a  man  goes  to  Kansas  to-day  and  raises  corn 
on  "free  soil,"  how  does  he  get  the  good  of  it,  unless  he  can 
exchange  that  corn  for  any  product  of  the  earth  that  he 
chooses  on  the  best  terms  that  the  arts  and  commerce  of 
to-day  can  give  him? 

155.  The  history  of  civil  liberty  is  made  up  of  cam- 
paigns against  abuses  of  taxation.  Protectionism  is  the 
great  modern  abuse  of  taxation;  the  abuse  of  taxation 
which  is  adapted  to  a  republican  form  of  government. 
Protectionism  is  now  corrupting  our  political  institutions  just 
as  slavery  used  to  do,  viz.,  it  allies  itself  with  every  other 
abuse  which  comes  up.     Most  recently  it  has  allied  itself 

^  Illustrations  of  this  are  presented  without  number.  Here  is  the  most  recent 
one:  "The  [silk^  masters  [of  Lyons,  France]  look  to  the  government  for  relief 
by  a  reduction  of  the  duty  on  cotton  yarn,  or  the  right  to  import  all  numbers  duty 
free  for  export  after  manufacture.  With  the  present  tariffs,  they  maintained, 
which  is  no  doubt  true,  that  they  cannot  compete  with  the  Swiss  and  German 
makers.  But  the  Rouen  cotton  spinners  oppose  the  demand  of  the  Lyons  silk 
manufacturers,  and  protest  that  they  will  be  ruined  if  the  latter  are  allowed  to 
procure  their  material  from  abroad.  The  Lyons  weavers  assert  that  they  are 
being  ruined  because  they  cannot."  —  {Econcmist,  1885,  p.  815.)  The  cotton 
men  won  in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  July  23,  1885. 


SUMMARY  AND   CONCLUSION  111 

with  the  silver  coinage,  and  it  is  now  responsible,  in  a  great 
measure,  for  that  calamity.  The  silver  coinage  law  would 
have  been  repealed  three  years  ago  if  the  silver  mining 
interest  had  not  served  notice  on  the  protectionists  that 
that  was  their  share  of  protection,  and  the  price  of  their 
cooperation.  The  silver  coinage  is  the  chief  cause  of  the 
"hard  times"  of  the  last  two  or  three  years.  In  a  well- 
ordered  state  it  is  the  function  of  government  to  repress 
every  selfish  interest  which  arises  and  endeavors  to  en- 
croach upon  the  rights  of  others.  The  state  thus  main- 
tains justice.  Under  protectionism  the  government  gives  a 
license  to  certain  interests  to  go  out  and  encroach  on  others. 
It  is  an  iniquity  as  to  the  victims  of  it,  a  delusion  as  to  its 
supposed  beneficiaries,  and  a  waste  of  the  pubhc  wealth. 
There  is  only  one  reasonable  question  now  to  be  raised 
about  it,  and  that  is:  How  can  we  most  easily  get  rid  of  it? 


TARIFF  REFORM 


TARIFF  REFORM  1 

A  YEAR  and  a  half  ago  a  gentleman  who  had  just 
been  reelected,  by  Republicans,  to  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States,  made  a  five-minute  speech  acknowledging 
the  honor.  In  respect  to  public  affairs  he  uttered  but  one 
opinion:  that  the  people  of  the  United  States  were  con- 
fronted by  a  most  serious  problem,  viz.,  how  to  reduce 
taxation.  On  the  face  of  it,  this  was  a  most  extraordinary 
statement,  and  the  chronicler  or  historian  might  well  take 
note  of  it  as  a  new  event  in  the  life  of  the  human  race. 
Statesmen  and  historians  are  familiar  enough  with  the 
diflSculty  of  raising  more  revenue,  and  laying  more  taxes, 
but  the  solemn  and  calamitous  position  of  a  nation  which 
is  forced  to  reduce  its  taxes,  and  finds  itseK  confronted  by 
industrial  disaster  if  it  does  it,  is  something  new.  Students 
of  political  economy  are  familiar  with  the  question:  WTiat 
harm  to  industry  may  be  done  by  levying  taxes  on  it.!* 
But  the  problem  of  how  to  avert  the  economic  disaster 
which  may  follow  taking  them  off  is  new.  Of  course  the 
state  of  mind  revealed  by  the  formulation  of  the  above 
problem  is  the  result  of  a  long  habit  of  regarding  taxation 
as  an  industrial  force,  or,  at  least,  as  an  effective  condition 
of  industrial  success. 

There  is,  however,  a  problem;  in  regard  to  that  fact  all 
concur.  It  is  also  a  rare  problem,  one  for  which  the  only 
precedent  is  to  be  found  in  our  own  history,  and  when  the 
case  occurred  before,  it  proved  to  be  fraught  with  calamity. 
We  are  confronted  by  the  dangers  of  a  surplus  revenue,  and 
no  proposal  to  do  away  with  the  surplus  in  extravagant 

*  Independent,  August  16,  1888. 
115 


116    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

expenditures  can  stand  before  the  common  sense  of  the 
people. 

If  the  taxes  are  collecting  more  than  the  pubhc  necessi- 
ties require,  then  the  simple  and  obvious,  and,  in  fact,  the 
only  solution,  is  not  to  collect  the  taxes;  let  the  people 
keep  their  own  products  and  do  what  they  please  with 
them.  If  we  do  not  make  a  problem  there  will  not  be  any; 
if  we  simply  do  in  the  most  straightforward  manner  what 
the  common  sense  of  the  situation  demands,  there  will  be 
no  difficulty;  the  consequences  will  all  take  care  of  them- 
selves, and  all  the  imaginary  calamities  will  fail  to  appear. 
If,  however,  we  must  have  a  grand  scheme  of  national 
prosperity  established  in  advance,  then  the  case  is  different. 

During  the  war  a  notion  grew  up  here  that,  through  some 
new  dispensation  of  fate,  it  was  possible  for  the  American 
people  to  make  war  and  prosper  by  it.  After  the  war  the 
notion  grew  up  that  the  paper  money  was  a  condition  of 
success  and  that  we  should  be  ruined  if  we  resumed  specie 
payments.  Now  we  are  met  by  the  doctrine  that  we  can- 
not repeal  the  taxes  which  were  laid  during  the  war,  partly 
in  order  to  carry  it  on,  because  our  national  prosperity  is 
bound  up  in  them.  These  notions,  in  fact,  are  all  consistent, 
and  all  hang  together;  they  all  belong  to  a  philosophy  that 
men  prosper  by  discord  and  war,  not  by  peace  and  har- 
mony. According  to  that  philosophy  we  touched  unawares 
the  springs  of  prosperity  when  we  engaged  in  a  civil  war, 
incurred  an  immense  debt,  and  laid  crushing  taxes.  Now, 
therefore,  when  we  ask  that  the  taxes  which  are  no  longer 
necessary  may  be  taken  off,  the  men  who  have  fallen  under 
the  dominion  of  these  fallacies  tell  us  that  it  cannot  be 
done;  that  our  prosperity  would  be  undermined  by  it. 
They  have  been  assuring  us  for  years  past  that  the  protec- 
tive system  was  sure  to  produce  a  solid  and  stable  prosper- 
ity; now,  by  their  own  statement,  it  has  produced  a  state 
of  things  so  weak  and  unstable  that  it  must  be  maintained 


TARIFF  REFORM  117 

by  heavy  taxes.  The  industrial  prosperity  of  the  United 
States  proves  to  be  as  burdensome  to  it  as  the  armaments 
of  the  European  nations  are  to  them. 

The  notion  seems  to  be  that  protective  taxes,  laid  on 
imports,  are  the  particular  kind  of  taxes  which  make  na- 
tional  prosperity,   and   which   therefore   ought   not   to   be 
touched.     It  is  proposed  that  internal  taxes  shall  be  re- 
duced.    If   local   taxes  on   real  estate,   etc.,   are  reduced, 
every  one  rejoices;    that  is  supposed  to  be  a  clear  and 
simple  gain.     I  have  known  the  same  man  to  exert  him- 
self   very    actively    to    scrutinize   local    expenditures,    and 
reduce  local  taxes,  and  to  boil  with  rage  against  free  traders 
who  want  to  reduce  protective  taxes.     However,  there  is 
probably  no  tax  of  any  kind  whatsoever  which  does  not  inter- 
fere with  the  conditions  of  supply  and  demand,  or  indus- 
trial competition,  in  such  a  way  as  to  give  "protection" 
to  somebody  at  the  expense  of  somebody  else.    There  are 
persons   who   are  now   enjoying  great  advantages  in  their 
business  from  the  whisky  and  tobacco  taxes  which  they 
would  lose  if  those  taxes  were  repealed.    This  is  one  of  the 
incidental  mischiefs  of  all  taxation  and  one  of  the  reasons 
for  insisting  that  taxation  shall  be  as  slight  as  possible,  and, 
to  that  end,  that  government  functions  shall  be  limited  as 
much  as  possible. 

We  are,  therefore,  face  to  face  with  the  question  whether 
we  are  able  to  reduce  our  own  taxes,  and  whether  we  are 
free  to  do  so.  We  may  fairly  ask:  if  not,  why  not?  It  is 
plain  that  this  is  a  question  of  domestic  policy  and  of  our 
own  interest  altogether.  All  the  attempts  to  prejudice  it 
by  talking  about  "England"  are  impertinent,  and  all  alle- 
gations that  those  of  us  who  want  to  reduce  our  own  taxes 
are  trying  "to  give  away  our  market,"  etc.,  belong  to  the 
worst  abuses  of  political  discussion.  What  is  true  is  that 
we  have  built  up  a  vast  combination  of  vested  interests, 
which  in  a  few  cases  have,  and  in  nearly  all  cases  think 


118    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

they  have,  an  interest  in  maintaining  the  taxes.  These  are 
among  ourselves;  what  they  gain,  they  gain  from  us;  it 
is  with  them  that  we  have  to  contend.  They  have  thus 
far  carried  on  the  fight  by  all  the  methods  dear  to  vested 
interests;  they  have  put  forth  plausible  fallacies,  sought 
alliances,  procured  delays,  appealed  to  prejudices. 

Behind  these  selfish  and  sordid  interests,  however,  there 
is  the  strong  and  sincere  prejudice  which  still  prevails 
among  the  civilized  nations  of  to-day,  and  which  is  divid- 
ing them  into  hostile  parties,  carrying  on  tariff  wars  with 
each  other.  I  call  it  "protectionism,"  because  it  is  not 
a  policy,  but  a  philosophy  of  national  welfare.  In  the 
United  States  it  takes  the  form  of  various  fallacies  about 
the  home  markets,  diversification  of  industry,  wages,  etc. 
As  these  are  all  questions  of  political  economy,  and  as  all 
who  talk  on  the  subject  at  all  are  talking  political  economy 
of  some  sort  or  other,  it  seems  that  a  great  work  of  educa- 
tion is  to  be  done  here  on  the  field  of  economic  doctrine. 
Hitherto  the  attempt  of  the  politicians  has  been  not  to  per- 
form this  work  of  education  but  to  thrust  it  aside. 

As  soon  as  the  issue  is  formed,  however,  and  the  protec- 
tionists are  forced  to  formulate  their  doctrine,  as  a  doc- 
trine, its  absurdity  becomes  apparent.  It  is  not  capable  of 
statement.  If  we  are  to  have  temporary  protection,  in 
order  to  start  infant  industries,  then  it  will  become  impera- 
tively necessary,  so  soon  as  public  attention  is  occupied 
by  the  subject,  to  say  how,  and  how  far,  and  how  long, 
the  system  is  to  be  kept  up,  and  the  public  will  demand  to 
know  how  it  is  getting  on,  and  at  what  rate  it  is  approach- 
ing its  goal.  For  this  reason  those  who  have  any  logical 
directness  of  thinking,  have  already  advanced  to  a  more 
intense  position;  they  advocate  protectionism  as  a  per- 
manent and  universal  economic  philosophy.  In  that  form 
it  flies  in  the  face  of  common  sense  and  civilization;  in 
some  of  the  latest  forms  which  it  has  taken  on  in  the  hands 


TARIFF  REFORM  119 

of  some  professors  of  political  economy,  it  is  a  kind  of 
economic  mysticism. 

If,  however,  the  United  States  could  be  cut  off  from  all 
the  rest  of  the  world  as  regards  trade  and  industry,  then 
at  least  it  should  be  plain  that  whatever  material  prosper- 
ity they  could  gain  would  be  just  what  they,  with  their 
energy,  enterprise,  and  capital,  are  able  to  extract  from 
such  soil  and  climate  as  nature  has  given  to  us  here.  What 
would  be  the  difference  if,  then,  there  were  no  tax  barriers? 
Certainly  none  whatever.  The  wealth  which  the  American 
people  get  they  must  produce  by  applying  their  labor  and 
capital  to  the  natural  advantages  which  they  possess. 
With  foreign  trade  open  to  them,  they  will  not  make  use  of 
it  unless  they  find  an  advantage  in  it;  that  is,  unless  Ameri- 
can labor  and  capital  can  attain  more  wealth  through  ex- 
change than  without  it.  The  task  of  American  producers 
will  still  be  to  attain  the  greatest  possible  wealth  by  expend- 
ing their  labor  and  capital  on  American  soil,  either  directly, 
or  with  an  intermediate  step  of  exchange.  Wages  are  only 
a  part  of  the  product  of  the  country;  if  then,  trade  increased 
the  amount  of  commodities  at  the  disposition  of  the  people, 
it  would  increase  the  amount  of  each  share  in  the  distribu- 
tion. This  is  the  simplest  common  sense  of  the  matter, 
stripped  of  all  technicalities,  and  to  this  the  whole  discus- 
sion must  again  and  again  return. 

If  now  we  begin  to  reduce  and  abolish  the  taxes  which 
were  laid  during  the  war,  we  shall  simply  begin  to  free  the 
American  people  from  a  clog  on  their  energies  and  a  waste 
of  their  industrial  strength.  Every  step  in  this  direction 
is  an  emancipation  under  which  we  may  be  sure  that  the 
national  energy  which  is  set  free  will  spring  up  with  the 
quickest  response.  The  guarantee  of  this  is  in  the  character 
of  the  people,  and  in  the  natural  advantages  which  they  pos- 
sess. Whatever  chances  we  have,  we  have  in  the  nature  of 
the  case;  the  tariff  could  not  give  us  any;  it  could  only  di- 


120    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

vert  in  one  way  or  another  those  which  nature  has  given  us. 
This  diversion  or  perversion  has  now  entered  into  the  ex- 
perience and  education  of  our  generation.  We  have  no 
idea  of  the  welfare  we  should  enjoy  if  we  were  only  free  to 
use  the  chances  which  are  within  our  reach)  and  a  great 
many  of  us  have  spun  out  a  kind  of  political  economy  to 
prove  that  the  cords  which  bind  us  are  the  tools  by  which 
we  work. 


WHAT  IS  FREE  TRADE? 


WHAT  IS  FREE  TRADE?* 

THERE  never  would  have  been  any  such  thing  to  fight 
for  as  free  speech,  free  press,  free  worship,  or  free 
soil,  if  nobody  had  ever  put  restraints  on  men  in  those  mat- 
ters. We  never  should  have  heard  of  free  trade,  if  no  re- 
strictions had  ever  been  put  on  trade.  If  there  had  been 
any  restrictions  on  the  intercourse  between  the  states  of 
this  Union,  we  should  have  heard  of  ceaseless  agitation  to 
get  those  restrictions  removed.  Since  there  are  no  restric- 
tions allowed  under  the  Constitution,  we  do  not  realize  the 
fact  that  we  are  enjoying  the  blessings  of  complete  liberty, 
where,  if  wise  counsels  had  not  prevailed  at  a  critical  mo- 
ment, we  should  now  have  had  a  great  mass  of  traditional 
and  deep-rooted  interferences  to  encounter. 

Our  intercourse  with  foreign  nations,  however,  has  been 
interfered  with,  because  it  is  a  fact  that,  by  such  interfer- 
ence, some  of  us  can  win  advantages  over  others.  The 
power  of  Congress  to  levy  taxes  is  employed  to  lay  duties 
on  imports,  not  in  order  to  secure  a  revenue  from  imports, 
biit  to  prevent  imports  —  in  which  case,  of  course,  no  revenue 
will  be  obtained.  The  effect  which  is  aimed  at,  and  which 
is  attained  by  this  device,  is  that  the  American  consumer, 
when  he  wants  to  satisfy  his  needs,  has  to  go  to  an  Ameri- 
can producer  of  the  thing  he  wants,  and  has  to  give  to  him 
a  price  for  the  product  which  is  greater  than  that  which  some 
foreigner  would  have  charged.  The  object  of  this  device, 
as  stated  on  the  best  protectionist  authority,  is:  "To  effect 
the  diversion  of  a  part  of  the  labor  and  capital  of  the  people 
out  of  the  channels  in  which  it  would  run  otherwise,  into 

1  In  Good  Cheer  for  April,  1886,  p.  7. 
lis 


124    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

channels  favored  or  created  by  law."  This  description  is 
strictly  correct,  and  from  it  the  reader  will  see  that  protec- 
tion has  nothing  to  do  with  any  foreigner  whatever.  It  is 
purely  a  question  of  domestic  policy.  It  is  only  a  question 
whether  we  shall,  by  taxing  each  other,  drive  the  industry 
of  this  country  into  an  arbitrary  and  artificial  development, 
or  whether  we  shall  allow  one  another  to  employ  each  his 
capital  and  labor  in  his  own  way.  Note  that  there  is  for  us 
all  the  same  labor,  capital,  soil,  national  character,  climate, 
etc.,  —  that  is,  that  all  the  conditions  of  production  remain 
unaltered.  The  only  change  which  is  operated  is  a  wrench- 
ing of  labor  and  capital  out  of  the  lines  on  which  they  would 
act  under  the  impulse  of  individual  enterprise,  energy,  and 
interest,  and  their  impulsion  in  another  direction  selected 
by  the  legislator.  Plainly,  all  the  import  duty  can  do  is 
to  close  the  door,  shutting  the  foreigner  out  and  the  Ameri- 
cans in.  Then,  when  an  American  needs  iron,  coal,  copper, 
woolens,  cottons,  or  anything  else  in  the  shape  of  manu- 
factured commodities,  the  operation  begins.  He  has  to 
buy  in  a  market  which  is  either  wholly  or  partially  monopo- 
lized. The  whole  object  of  shutting  him  in  is  to  take  ad- 
vantage of  this  situation  to  make  him  give  more  of  his 
products  for  a  given  amount  of  the  protected  articles,  than 
he  need  have  given  for  the  same  things  in  the  world's  mar- 
ket. Under  this  system  a  part  of  our  product  is  diverted 
from  the  satisfaction  of  our  needs,  and  is  spent  to  hire 
some  of  our  fellow-citizens  to  go  out  of  an  employment 
which  would  pay  under  the  world's  competition,  into  one 
which  will  not  pay  under  the  world's  competition.  We, 
therefore,  do  with  less  clothes,  furniture,  tools,  crockery, 
glassware,  bed  and  table  linen,  books,  etc.,  and  the  satis- 
faction we  have  for  this  sacrifice  is  knowing  that  some  of 
our  neighbors  are  carrying  on  business  which  according  to 
their  statement  does  not  pay,  and  that  we  are  paying  their 
losses  and  hiring  them  to  keep  on. 


WHAT  IS  FREE  TRADE?  125 

Free  trade  is  a  revolt  against  this  device.  It  is  not  a 
revolt  against  import  duties  or  indirect  taxes  as  a  means  of 
raising  revenue.  It  has  nothing  to  say  about  that,  one  way 
or  the  other.  It  begins  to  protest  and  agitate  just  as  soon 
as  any  tax  begins  to  act  protectively,  and  it  denounces  any 
tax  which  one  citizen  levies  on  another.  The  protectionists 
have  a  long  string  of  notions  and  doctrines  which  they  put 
forward  to  try  to  prove  that  their  device  is  not  a  contriv- 
ance by  which  they  can  make  their  fellow-citizens  con- 
tribute to  their  support,  but  is  a  device  for  increasing 
the  national  wealth  and  power.  These  allegations  must  be 
examined  by  economists,  or  other  persons  who  are  properly 
trained  to  test  their  correctness,  in  fact  and  logic.  It  is 
enough  here  to  say,  over  a  responsible  signature,  that  no 
such  allegation  has  ever  been  made  which  would  bear  ex- 
amination. On  the  contrary,  all  such  assertions  have  the 
character  of  apologies  or  special  pleas  to  divert  attention 
from  the  one  plain  fact  that  the  advocates  of  a  protec- 
tive tariff  have  a  direct  pecuniary  interest  in  it,  and  that 
they  have  secured  it,  and  now  maintain  it,  for  that  reason 
and  no  other.  The  rest  is  all  afterthought  and  excuse.  If 
any  gain  could  possibly  come  to  the  country  through 
the  gains  of  the  beneficiaries  of  the  tariff,  obviously  the 
country  must  incur  at  least  an  equal  loss  through  the 
losses  of  that  part  of  the  people  who  pay  what  the  pro- 
tected win.  If  a  country  could  win  anything  that  way,  it 
would  be  like  a  man  lifting  himself  by  his  boot  straps. 

The  protectionists,  in  advocating  their  system,  always 
spend  a  great  deal  of  effort  and  eloquence  on  appeals  to 
patriotism,  and  to  international  jealousies.  These  are  all 
entirely  aside  from  the  point.  The  protective  system  is  a 
domestic  system,  for  domestic  purposes,  and  it  is  sought 
by  domestic  means.  The  one  who  pays,  and  the  one  who 
gets,  are  both  Americans.  The  victim  and  the  beneficiary 
are  amongst  ourselves.    It  is  just  as  unpatriotic  to  oppress 


126    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

one  American  as  it  is  patriotic  to  favor  another.  If  we 
make  one  American  pay  taxes  to  another  American,  it  will 
neither  vex  nor  please  any  foreign  nation. 

The  protectionists  speak  of  trade  with  the  contempt  of 
feudal  nobles,  but  on  examination  it  appears  that  they 
have  something  to  sell,  and  that  they  mean  to  denounce 
trade  with  their  rivals.  They  denounce  cheapness,  and 
it  appears  that  they  do  so  because  they  want  to  sell  dear. 
WTien  they  buy,  they  buy  as  cheaply  as  they  can.  They 
say  that  they  want  to  raise  wages,  but  they  never  pay 
anything  but  the  lowest  market  rate.  They  denounce 
selfishness,  while  pursuing  a  scheme  for  their  own  selfish 
aggrandizement,  and  they  bewail  the  dominion  of  self- 
interest  over  men  who  want  to  enjoy  their  own  earnings, 
and  object  to  surrendering  the  same  to  them.  They 
attribute  to  government,  or  to  "the  state,"  the  power 
and  right  to  decide  what  industrial  enterprises  each  of  us 
shall  subscribe  to  support. 

Free  trade  means  antagonism  to  this  whole  policy  and 
theory  at  every  point.  The  free  trader  regards  it  as  all 
false,  meretricious,  and  delusive.  He  considers  it  an  in- 
vasion of  private  rights.  In  the  best  case,  if  all  that  the 
protectionist  claims  were  true,  he  would  be  taking  it  upon 
himself  to  decide  how  his  neighbor  should  spend  his  earn- 
ings, and  —  more  than  that  —  that  his  neighbor  shall  spend 
his  earnings  for  the  advantage  of  the  men  who  make  the 
decision.  This  is  plainly  immoral  and  corrupting;  nothing 
could  be  more  so.  The  free  trader  also  denies  that  the 
government  either  can,  or  ought  to  regulate  the  way  in 
which  a  man  shall  employ  his  earnings.  He  sees  that  the 
government  is  nothing  but  a  clique  of  the  parties  in  interest. 
It  is  a  few  men  who  have  control  of  the  civic  organization. 
If  they  were  called  upon  to  regulate  business,  they  would 
need  a  wisdom  which  they  have  not.  They  do  not  do  this. 
They  only  turn  the  "channels"  to  the  advantage  of  them- 


WHAT  IS  FREE  TRADE?  127 

selves  and  their  friends.  This  corrupts  the  institutions  of 
government  and  continues  under  our  system  all  the  old 
abuses  by  which  the  men  who  could  get  control  of  the 
governmental  machinery  have  used  it  to  aggrandize  them- 
selves at  the  expense  of  others.  The  free  trader  holds 
that  the  people  will  employ  their  labor  and  capital  to  the 
best  advantage  when  each  man  employs  his  own  in  his  own 
way,  according  to  the  maxim  that  "A  fool  is  wiser  in  his 
own  house  than  a  sage  in  another  man's  house";  — how 
much  more,  then,  shall  he  be  wiser  than  a  politician?  And 
he  holds,  further,  that  by  the  nature  of  the  case,  if  any 
governmental  coercion  is  necessary  to  drive  industry  in 
a  direction  in  which  it  would  not  otherwise  go,  such  coer- 
cion must  be  mischievous. 

The  free  trader  further  holds  that  protection  Is  all  a  mis- 
take and  delusion  to  those  who  think  that  they  win  by  it, 
in  that  it  lessens  their  self-reliance  and  energy  and  exposes 
their  business  to  vicissitudes  which,  not  being  incident  to  a 
natural  order  of  things,  cannot  be  foreseen  and  guarded 
against  by  busmess  skill;  also  that  it  throws  the  business 
into  a  condition  in  which  it  is  exposed  to  a  series  of  heats 
and  chills,  and  finally,  unless  a  new  stimulus  is  applied,  re- 
duced to  a  state  of  dull  decay.  They  therefore  hold  that 
even  the  protected  would  be  far  better  off  without  it. 


PROTECTIONISM  TWENTY  YEARS  AFTER 


PROTECTIONISM  TWENTY  YEARS  AFTER  i 

I  THINK  it  must  be  now  nearly  twenty  years  since  I 
have  made  a  free-trade  speech  or  been  able  to  take 
share  in  a  free-trade  dinner. 

When  I  was  invited  here  this  evening  I  thought  I  would 
try  to  come  for  the  pleasure  of  hearing  the  gentlemen, 
especially  the  members  of  Congress,  who  were  announced 
to  speak  here.  I  have  been  so  out  of  health  that  it  has  been 
impossible  for  me  to  sit  up  evenings  or  to  attempt  public 
speaking  in  the  evenings,  but  things  are  going  a  little  better 
and  I  will  make  an  attempt  to  say  a  little  —  not  very 
much,  as  the  hour  is  now  late. 

Thirty-five  or  forty  years  ago  I  became  a  free  trader  for 
two  great  reasons,  as  far  as  I  can  now  remember. 

One  was  because,  as  a  student  of  political  economy,  my 
whole  mind  revolted  against  the  notion  of  magic  that  is 
involved  in  the  notion  of  a  protective  tariff.  That  is,  there 
are  facts  that  are  accounted  for  by  protectionism  through 
assertions  that  are  either  plainly  untrue  or  are  entirely 
inational.  The  other  reason  was  because  it  seemed  to 
me  that  the  protective  tariff  system  nourished  erroneous 
ideas  of  success  in  business  and  produced  immoral  results 
in  the  minds  and  hopes  of  the  people. 

I  cannot  say  that  I  have  got  any  more  light  on  the  mat- 
ter within  the  last  twenty  years;  it  looks  to  me  still  as 
if  the  great  objections  to  protectionism  were  these  two.  No 
man  who  enjoys  the  benefit  of  a  protective  tariff,  as  he 
believes,  can  ever  tell  whether  he  gets  back  anything  for 

1  Address  at  a  dinner  of  the  committee  on  Tariff  Reform  of  the  Reform  Club 
in  the  city  of  New  York,  June  i,  1906. 

131 


132    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

the  taxes  which  he  pays  or  not.  He  never  has  any  analysis 
of  the  operation  and  never  knows  whether  or  not  he  really 
recovers  from  the  action  of  the  tariff  what  he  pays  in. 

I  say  now  the  taxes  which  he  pays,  because  —  let  us  not 
make  any  mistake  about  this  —  the  matter  we  are  talking 
about  is  one  entirely  of  Americans  and  between  Americans. 
If  the  protective  tariff  operates  so  as  to  perform  what  is 
attributed  to  it,  it  prevents  things  from  being  imported 
into  this  country.  That  may  be  a  disadvantage  to  the 
foreigner,  it  may  disappoint  him  in  his  hopes,  but  we  may 
leave  him  out  of  account.  Then  the  increase  of  the  cost  of 
these  commodities  for  the  American  consumer  at  home  is  the 
source  from  which  the  American  protected  manufacturer 
must  obtain  his  benefit,  if  he  ever  obtains  any.  Therefore 
he  has  to  pay  also  taxes  to  the  other  protected  industries 
on  account  of  the  operation  of  the  system.  Therefore  he 
is  both  paying  and  receiving,  but  whether  or  not  he  gets 
back  the  part  that  he  hoped  to  receive  is  a  question  which 
he  never  can  sift  and  never  can  know. 

I  should  myself  suppose  that  possibly  the  Pennsylvanian 
on  his  coal  and  iron  might  stand  a  good  chance  of  winning 
something.  The  operation  is  direct  and  simple  in  that  case, 
and  coal  and  iron  are  to-day  the  very  first  conditions  of 
industry.  They  must  be  obtained  as  raw  material,  be- 
cause they  enter  into  everything,  and  it  is  possible  that 
under  those  circumstances  the  game  might  be  sufficiently 
direct  so  that  its  effect  could  be  felt  and  perceived.  But 
the  Connecticut  manufacturer  has  to  pay  taxes  on  coal  and 
iron  and  copper  and  the  other  metals,  and  he  has  to  pay  also 
the  taxes  on  wool  and  the  other  raw  materials,  and  then 
comes  the  question  whether  he  ever  gets  it  back  again  or 
not.  He  never  knows;  he  cannot  know;  he  cannot  feel 
it  and  he  cannot  possibly  know  whether  the  operation  of 
the  system  is  to  bring  him  back  a  return  for  his  outlay  or 
not. 


PROTECTIONISM  TWENTY  YEARS  AFTER      133 

We  hear  a  great  deal  about  a  rightly  adjusted  tariff.  It 
is  a  constant  ideal  that  is  presented,  whenever  the  tariff 
subject  comes  up  again  for  discussion  in  Congress,  that  it 
ought  to  be  rightly  adjusted,  and  when  it  is,  it  is  going  to 
perform  its  beneficial  operation. 

How  can  a  tariff  ever  be  rightly  adjusted  unless  the  in- 
dustry will  stand  still  ?  The  taxes  stand  still  for  years  with- 
out change.  The  industries  never  stand  still.  There  are 
new  inventions  in  machinery,  there  are  new  raw  materials 
brought  into  use,  there  are  new  processes  developed,  and 
all  that  changes  the  character  of  the  industry.  These  in- 
ventions and  improvements  and  processes  are  all  ignored 
by  the  protective  system.  It  contains  no  allowance  for 
them  at  all.  But  our  people  are  full  of  enterprise,  they  are 
fond  of  improvements,  they  like  novelties,  and  they  adopt 
changes.  The  consequence  is  that  the  industry  changes, 
and  then  again  the  decisions  that  are  made  by  somebody 
or  other  as  to  the  doubtful  questions  in  the  interpretation 
of  the  law  are  also  constantly  changing,  and  then  by  and 
by  we  find  a  lot  of  people  who  want  the  tariff  changed. 
They  say  it  needs  to  be  adapted  to  the  time,  it  is  out  of 
date,  it  has  fallen  behind,  it  does  not  fit  the  requirements 
of  the  moment,  and  they  would  like  to  have  a  tariff  re- 
vision; but  they  are  told  then  that  they  ought  to  keep 
still  and  not  make  a  disturbance  which  will  bring  up  a  dis- 
cussion of  the  entire  tariff  system,  and  that  they  ought  to 
allow  it  to  go  on  for  the  sake  of  the  "system." 

What  is  the  system  then?  The  system  means  that  the 
import  duties  that  we  have  in  this  country  have  raised  the 
prices  of  all  commodities  in  our  market,  I  may  say  thirty 
or  forty  per  cent  on  a  very  low  calculation.  Is  not  that  a 
very  extraordinary  thing  when  you  stand  off  and  try 
to  realize  it  for  a  minute  —  that  we  have  raised  the  prices 
in  the  United  States  thirty  or  forty  per  cent  —  perhaps 
more  nearly  fifty  per  cent  —  above  the  level  of  the  prices 


134    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

for  the  same  commodities  in  the  other  civiHzed  countries 
of  our  grade;  and  that  we  believe  that  we  have  done  a  grand 
and  noble  thing  by  raising  these  prices,  putting  the  whole 
level  of  life  in  this  country  on  an  artificial  plane  that  much 
above  the  level  of  the  world's  market?  In  fact,  if  you 
should  listen  to  a  protectionist  he  would  make  you  believe 
that  this  continent  would  not  be  habitable  if  it  was  not  for 
the  protective  tariff  that  is  here  working  this  operation  all 
the  time  on  the  American  market. 

I  am  of  the  opinion  —  I  am  not  very  confident  about  it  — 
but  it  looks  to  me  as  if  it  were  true  that  a  protective  tariff 
wears  out  in  a  little  while  —  I  mean,  so  far  as  its  expected 
beneficial  effect  is  concerned.  Its  effects  are  distributed, 
they  are  taken  up  and  they  are  allowed  for  all  around  the 
market  until  the  expected  benefit  to  the  protected  people  is 
lost  and  there  remains  nothing  but  the  dead  weight  of  the 
system  itself  as  an  interference  with  the  industries.  There 
is  then  a  call  for  a  new  tariff  in  order  to  get  another  im- 
pulse or  another  fillip,  as  I  have  heard  it  called,  to  give 
things  a  new  impulse,  to  start  them  on  again. 

That  has  been  the  history  of  our  tariff  now  for  one  hun- 
dred years,  that  it  has  been  restarted,  reinvigorated  from 
time  to  time  in  order  to  give  a  new  impulse.  Then  in  the 
very  nature  of  the  case,  therefore,  it  seems  to  me  that  a 
new  impulse  is  constantly  required. 

As  I  said  at  the  outset,  the  tariff  system  seems  to  me  to 
teach  us  to  believe  that  a  man  needs  a  "pull"  of  some 
kind  or  other  to  make  any  industry  a  success.  It  is  an 
idea  that  there  must  always  be  a  provision  of  easy  profit 
in  connection  with  the  industry  that  shall  demand  no  labor 
or  no  expediture  of  capital  to  get  it.  That  is  the  pure  doc- 
trine of  graft.  The  tariff  teaches  us  to  look  for  a  fee  or  a 
gratuity  or  a  rake-off  which  will  be  a  pure  and  net  profit. 
People  are  told  that  tariff  taxes  are  a  rightful  gift  to  the 
beneficiary.    Those  who  do  not  get  that  gain  seek  another 


PROTECTIONISM  TWENTY  YEARS  AFTER      135 

one  of  the  same  kind  somewhere,  and  when  they  do  that 
they  have  recourse  to  graft. 

It  is  a  shameful  fact  that  this  notion  of  graft,  and  this 
word,  should  have  come  to  us,  as  it  has  within  the  last  four 
or  five  years,  and  should  have  extended  so  far  and  become 
so  familiar  to  us  in  connection  with  a  great  many  of  the 
operations  of  business.  It  is  customary,  as  we  have  known 
for  a  long  time,  in  some  nations,  for  instance  in  Russia, 
China,  and  Turkey;  and  with  us  it  has  seemed  to  spread  and 
win  acceptance  and  currency  in  a  most  astonishing  manner. 
I  cannot  believe  but  what  the  tariff  system  has  educated 
us  in  this  direction  and  prepared  us  to  tolerate  and  accept 
the  development  of  this  idea.  It  also  seems  to  me  that 
now,  after  one  hundred  years  of  this  system,  the  tariff  is 
no  longer  properly  an  economic  question.  It  is  a  practical 
political  question.  The  politics  and  the  business  are  inter- 
woven in  it  inextricably.  There  is  no  economic  discussion 
possible  of  the  propositions  that  are  made,  economic  in 
form,  in  connection  with  the  tariff  system.  There  is  only 
a  war  of  partial  views  and  of  superficial  inferences. 

Our  American  protectionism  has  grown  out  of  the  pecu- 
liar circumstances  of  this  country.  It  is  an  old  idea  that 
has  come  down  to  us  from  Europe,  and,  indeed,  from  the 
Middle  Ages  in  Europe,  and  here  it  found  a  chance  for  a 
new  and  very  remarkable  development.  There  were  new 
conditions  here,  and  the  chances  were  so  big  and  grand 
that,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  protective  system  has  never 
done  more  than  exact  a  certain  tribute  from  us  on  these 
chances.  It  has  never  really  touched  us  in  an  acute  and 
sensible  way,  and  in  spite  of  it  we  have  enjoyed  marvelous 
prosperity  which  is  due  really  to  the  circumstances  of  ad- 
vantage and  favor  which  we  have  enjoyed  here. 

In  the  year  1892  we  got  an  issue  on  this  matter  and  went 
to  the  electorate  with  it,  with  the  result  that  we  all  know. 
But  the  mandate  of  the  people  was  neglected  and  disobeyed 


136     THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

by  the  government  and  the  purpose  that  the  people  showed 
at  that  time  was  defied. 

We  have  also  had  opportunity  to  notice  the  great  power 
of  the  protected  interests  in  Congress.  The  fact  is  that  we 
are  being  governed  at  the  present  time  by  a  combination 
of  these  protected  interests  which  have  got  control  of  the 
machinery  of  government,  and  have  control  of  the  person- 
nel of  the  government  to  such  an  extent  that  it  is  almost 
impossible,  practically,  to  make  any  breach  in  this  system 
at  all.  That  is  because  the  political  combinations  have 
been  so  thoroughly  wrought  out  and  so  ingeniously  de- 
veloped that  they  look  at  present  as  if  they  were  impreg- 
nable. 

I  look  around  to  see  if  I  can  find  some  encouragement. 
I  thought  that  it  was  something  of  an  encouragement  when 
Mr.  Dalzell  made  this  speech  in  Congress  that  Mr.  Williams 
has  referred  to,  in  which  he  poured  such  scorn  on  the  idea 
of  "incidental  protection."  I  have  never  said  anything  so 
severe  about  any  protectionist  idea  as  that  which  he  said 
about  incidental  protection.  But  suppose  that  the  people 
of  1850,  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century,  could  come 
to  life  again,  the  old  protectionists  of  that  time.  WTiat 
would  they  think  to  hear  a  man  speak  with  scorn  of  inci- 
dental protection.'*  It  was  what  they  believed  in;  it  was 
the  whole  business  to  them.  When  an  old  protectionist 
hke  Mr.  Dalzell  can  turn  around  and  pour  scorn  upon 
incidental  protection  I  feel  as  if  we  never  could  tell  what 
they  might  throw  overboard  next  time,  in  some  paroxysm 
of  some  kind  or  other,  of  fear  or  hope  or  something  else, 
and  we  might  get  a  chance  that  we  have  not  been  able 
to  get  in  the  past. 

Then,  as  has  been  well  said  by  other  gentlemen  to-night, 
there  has  been  within  the  last  year  or  two  a  very  great 
revolt  in  the  public  mind  against  graft  and  political  and 
business  corruption.     How  far  will  this  go?     We  do  not 


PROTECTIONISM  TWENTY  YEARS  AFTER      137 

know,  but  it  is,  at  any  rate,  an  opening  in  the  public  mind 
that  is  full  of  chances.  It  may  go  very  far;  it  may  have 
very  great  effects;  it  is  certainly  something  to  be  noticed 
and  taken  advantage  of. 

Then,  again,  there  are  new  conflicts  of  interests  arising. 
We  have  become  very  great  people  in  the  world's  com- 
merce, with  a  billion  dollars'  worth  of  exports  and  imports 
in  a  year,  and  we  are  so  interwoven  with  the  whole  world 
that  it  will  not  be  possible  for  us  to  go  on  with  our  old 
policy  of  discouraging  commerce  and  rejecting  it,  and  try- 
ing to  stop  it,  and  paying  no  attention  at  all  to  the  remon- 
strances of  our  neighbors.  In  future  we  shall  be  obliged 
to  pay  some  attention  to  these  remonstrances.  They  are 
just,  they  are  reasonable,  and  they  will  command  our  at- 
tention; and  then  we  shall  have  to  make  concessions  to 
them.  In  other  words,  we  cannot  any  longer  afford  to 
reject  and  neglect  these  remonstrances. 

It  may  be,  therefore,  that  in  the  time  that  is  now  before 
us  we  shall  have  better  chances  for  a  practical  war  upon 
this  system  than  we  have  had  hitherto.  As  long,  however, 
as  I  can  remember,  and  as  long  as  I  have  had  any  share  in 
it,  we  have  got  along  without  any  encouragement  in  it  at 
all.  We  have  done  what  we  could  without  that.  We  got 
so  we  did  not  expect  it.  We  knew  that  we  should  be 
neglected  and  treated  as  persons  whose  opinions  in  these 
matters  were  not  of  any  importance  or  worthy  of  any  atten- 
tion, and  so  we  went  on  and  kept  up  our  arguments,  as  we 
considered  them,  to  the  best  of  our  ability  and  without 
very  much  result. 

Now,  it  may  be  that  we  are  on  the  eve  of  a  different 
time,  when  the  circumstances  will  be  more  favorable,  more 
hopeful,  more  full  of  opportunities,  and  I  certainly,  for 
my  part,  most  profoundly  hope  that  that  is  so. 

I  have  noticed  with  some  discouragement  the  efforts 
that  Mr.  Williams  has  made  on  the  floor  of  Congress  to  get 


138     THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

some  modifications  of  the  tariff  made,  or  some  argument 
even  opened  up  there  that  might  give  the  matter  activity  and 
life  in  the  legislative  domain.  They  did  not  seem  any  more 
encouraging  than  what  we  used  to  see  in  the  old  times. 
But  it  is  certainly  in  the  nature  of  things  that  the  difficul- 
ties and  absurdities  of  this  system  must  come  out  in  prac- 
tice more  and  more  distinctly  as  we  go  on,  and  the  need  for 
reform  will  therefore  force  itself  in  the  shape  of  a  play  of 
interests  that  will  bring  new  and  counteracting  forces  into 
operation  to  which  we  may  look  for  help  in  the  overthrow 
of  the  system. 


PROSPERITY  STRANGLED  BY  GOLD 


s 


PROSPERITY  STRANGLED  BY  GOLD^ 

OME  of  the  silver  fallacies  were  stated  by  Mr.  St. 
p^  John,  in  his  address  before  the  silver  convention,  w4th 
such  precision  that  his  speech  offers  a  favorable  opportunity 
for  dealing  with  them. 

He  says  that  "it  is  amongst  the  first  principles  m  finance 
that  the  value  of  each  dollar,  expressed  in  prices,  depends 
upon  the  total  number  of  dollars  in  circulation."     There  is 
no  such  principle  of   finance  as  the  one  here   formulated. 
The  "quantity  doctrine"  of  currency  is  gravely  abused  by 
all  bimetallists,  from  the  least  to  the  greatest,  and  it  is  at 
best  open  to  great  doubt.     When  the  dollars  in  question 
are  dollars  of  some  money  of  account  which  can  circulate 
beyond  the  territory  of  the  State  in  which  it  is  issued,  the 
quantity  doctrine  cannot  be  true  within  that  territory.     It 
may  be  noted,  in  passing,  that  this  is  the  reason  why  no 
scheme  of  the  silver  people  for  manipulating  prices  in  the 
United  States  can  possibly  succeed.     Silver  and  gold  will  be 
exported  and  imported  until  their  values  conform  through- 
out the  world,  and  prices  fixed  in  one  or  the  other  of  them 
will  conform  to  the  world's  prices,   after  all  the  trouble 
and  waste  and  loss  of  translating  them  two  or  three  times 
over  have  been  endured. 

The  quantity  doctrine,  however,  means  that  the  value  of 
the  currency  is  a  question  of  supply  and  demand,  and 
everybody  knows  that  to  double  or  halve  the  supply  does 
not  halve  or  double  the  value,  or  have  any  other  effect 
which  is  simple  and  direct.  If  it  did  have  such  effect  spec- 
ulation would  not  be  what  it  is. 

1  Leslie's  WeeUy,  August  20,  1896. 
141 


142     THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

Mr.  St.  John  goes  on  to  argue  that  our  population  in- 
creases two  millions  every  year,  on  account  of  which  we 
need  more  dollars;  that  the  production  of  gold  does  not 
furnish  enough  to  meet  this  need,  and  that,  therefore, 
prices  fall.  This  argumentation  is  very  simple  and  very 
glib.  Prosperity  and  adversity  are  put  into  a  syllogism  of 
three  lines.  But,  if  we  can  avert  the  fall  in  prices  and  ad- 
versity by  coining  silver,  it  must  be  by  adding  the  silver  to 
the  gold  which  we  now  have.  "High"  and  "low"  prices 
are  only  relative  terms.  They  mean  higher  and  lower  than 
at  another  time  or  place;  higher  and  lower  than  we  have 
been  used  to.  If  misery  depends  on  ten-cent  corn  we  are 
advised  to  cut  the  cents  in  two  and  we  shall  get  twenty- 
cent  corn  and  prosperity.  Corn  will  not  be  altered  in  value 
in  gold,  or  outside  of  the  United  States,  and,  as  all  other 
things  will  be  marked  up  at  the  same  time  and  in  the  same 
way,  its  value  in  other  things  will  not  be  altered  by  this 
operation.  Wlien  we  get  used  to  twenty-cent  corn  it  will 
seem  just  as  low  and  just  as  "hard  for  the  debtor"  as  ten- 
cent  corn  is  now.  Then  we  can  divide  by  ten  and  get  two- 
dollar  corn,  by  adding  free  coinage  of  copper.  When  we 
get  used  to  that  we  shall  be  no  better  satisfied  with  it.  We 
can  then  make  paper  dollars  and  coin  them  without  limit. 
Million-dollar  corn  will  then  become  as  bitter  a  subject  for 
complaint  as  ten-cent  corn  is  now.  The  fact  that  people 
are  discontented  is  no  argument  for  anything. 

The  fact  that  prices  are  low  is  made  the  subject  of  social 
complaint  and  of  political  agitation  in  the  United  States. 
Prices  have  undergone  a  wave  since  1850.  They  arose  until 
about  1872.  They  have  fallen  again.  They  are  lower  than 
they  were  at  the  top  of  the  wave  all  the  world  over.  This 
fact,  the  explanation  of  which  would  furnish  a  very  com- 
plicated task  for  trained  statisticians  and  economists,  is 
made  a  topic  of  easy  interpretation  and  solution  in  political 
conventions  and  popular  harangues,  and  it  is  proposed  to 


PROSPERITY  STRANGLED  BY  GOLD  143 

adopt  violent  and  portentous  measures  upon  the  basis  of 
the  flippant  notions  which  are  current  about  it.  But  what 
difference  does  it  make  whether  the  "plane"  of  prices  is 
high  or  low?  If  corn  is  at  forty  cents  a  bushel  and  calico 
at  twenty  cents  a  yard,  a  bushel  buys  two  yards.  If  corn 
is  at  ten  cents  a  bushel  and  calico  at  five  cents  a  yard,  a 
bushel  will  buy  two  yards.  So  of  everything  else.  If,  then, 
there  has  been  a  general  fall,  and  that  is  the  alleged  griev- 
ance, neither  farmers  nor  any  other  one  class  has  suffered 
by  it. 

It  is  undoubtedly  true  that  a  period  of  advancing  prices 
stimulates  energy  and  enterprise.  It  does  so  even  when,  if 
all  the  facts  were  well  known,  it  might  be  found  that  capi- 
tal was  really  being  consumed  in  successive  periods  of  pro- 
duction. Falling  prices  discourage  enterprise,  although,  if 
all  facts  were  known  to  the  bottom,  it  might  be  found 
that  capital  was  being  accumulated  in  successive  periods 
of  production. 

It  is  also  true  that  a  depreciation  of  the  money  of  ac- 
count, while  it  is  going  on,  stimulates  exports  and  restrains 
imports. 

But  who  can  tell  how  we  are  to  make  prices  always  go 
up,  unless  by  constant  and  unlimited  inflation.^  Who  can 
tell  how  we  are  to  avoid  fluctuations  in  prices  or  eliminate 
the  element  of  contingency,  risk,  foresight,  and  speculation.'* 

It  is  also  true  that,  although  high  prices  and  low  prices 
are  immaterial  at  any  one  time,  the  change  from  one  to  the 
other,  from  one  period  of  time  to  another,  affects  the  burden 
of  outstanding  time  contracts.  Men  make  contracts  for 
dollars,  not  for  dollar's- worths.  Selling  long  or  short  is  one 
thing;  lending  is  another.  Borrowers  and  lenders  never 
guarantee  each  other  the  purchasing  power  of  dollars  at  a 
future  time.  If  the  contracts  were  thus  complicated  they 
would  become  impossible.  Between  1850  and  1872  the 
debtors  made  no  complaint  and  the  creditors  never  thought 


144     THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

of  getting  up  an  agitation  to  have  debts  sealed  up.  The 
debtors  now  are  demanding  that  they  be  allowed  to  play 
heads  I  win,  tails  you  lose,  and  Mr.  St.  John  and  others 
tell  us  that  they  have  the  votes  to  carry  it;  as  if  that  made 
any  difference  in  the  forum  of  discussion. 

Increase  in  population  does  not  prove  an  increased  need 
of  money.  It  may  prove  the  contrary.  If  the  population 
becomes  more  dense  over  a  given  area,  a  higher  organiza- 
tion may  make  less  money  necessary.  If  railroads  and 
other  means  of  communication  are  extended,  money  is 
economized.  If  banks  and  other  credit  institutions  are 
multiplied,  and  if  credit  operations  are  facilitated  by  public 
security,  good  administration  of  law,  etc.,  less  money  is 
needed.  If  these  changes  are  going  on  at  the  same  time 
that  population  is  increasing  (and  such  is  undoubtedly 
the  case  in  the  United  States),  who  can  tell  whether  the 
net  result  is  to  make  more  or  less  currency  necessary? 
Nobody;  and  all  assertions  about  the  matter  are  wild  and 
irresponsible. 

If  it  was  true  that  an  increase  of  two  millions  in  the 
population  called  for  more  dollars,  how  does  anybody  know 
whether  the  current  gold  production  is  adequate  to  meet 
the  new  requirement  or  not?  The  assertion  is  arithmet- 
ical. It  says  that  two  quantities  are  not  equal  to  each 
other.  The  first  quantity  is  the  increase  in  the  currency 
called  for  by  two  million  more  people.  How  much  more  is 
needed?  Nobody  knows,  and  there  is  no  way  to  find  out. 
The  silver  men  have  put  figures  for  it  from  time  to  time, 
but  the  figures  rested  on  nothing  and  were  mere  bald  as- 
sertions. The  second  quantity  is  the  amount  of  new  gold 
annually  available  for  coinage  in  the  United  States.  How 
much  is  this?  Nobody  knows,  because  if  an  attempt  is 
made  to  define  what  is  meant  it  is  found  that  there  is  no  idea 
in  the  words.  The  people  of  the  United  States  buy  and 
coin  just  as  much  gold  as  they  want  at  any  time.     Hence 


PROSPERITY  STRANGLED  BY  GOLD  145 

two  things  are  said  to  be  unequal  to  each  other,  when  no- 
body knows  how  big  either  one  of  them  is.  It  may  be 
added  that  it  makes  no  difference  how  big  either  one  of 
them  is.  How  much  additional  tin  is  needed  annually  for 
the  increase  of  our  population.^  Do  the  mines  produce  it? 
Nobody  knows  or  asks.  The  mines  produce,  and  the  people 
buy,  what  they  want.     The  case  is  the  same  as  to  gold. 

We  find,  then,  that  Mr.  St.  John  begins  with  a  doctrine 
which  is  untenable;  then  he  asserts  a  relation  between 
population  and  the  need  of  money  which  does  not  exist; 
then  he  assumes  that  this  need  is  greater  than  the  amount 
of  new  gold  produced,  although  neither  he  nor  anybody  else 
knows  how  big  either  one  of  these  quantities  is.  This  is 
the  argumentation  by  which  he  aims  to  show  that  prices 
are  reduced  and  misery  produced  by  the  single  gold  stand- 
ard. It  is  the  argumentation  which  is  current  among  the 
silver  people.  Not  a  step  of  it  will  bear  examination.  The 
inference  that  we  must  restore  the  free  coinage  of  silver,  to 
escape  this  strangulation  of  prosperity,  falls  to  the  ground. 


CAUSE  AND   CURE  OF  HARD  TIMES 


CAUSE  AND  CURE  OF  HARD  TIMES' 

IT  is  an  essential  part  of  the  case  of  the  silver  men  that 
the  country  is  having  "hard  times."  The  bolters  from 
the  Republican  convention  say,  in  their  manifesto:  "Dis- 
content and  distress  prevail  to  an  extent  never  before  known 
in  the  history  of  the  country."  This  is  an  historical  asser- 
tion. It  is  distinctly  untrue.  There  is  no  such  discontent 
and  distress  as  there  was  in  1819,  or  in  1840,  or  in  1875,  to 
say  nothing  of  other  periods.  The  writers  did  not  know 
the  facts  of  the  history,  and  they  made  use  of  what  is  now- 
adays a  mere  figure  of  speech.  People  who  want  to  say 
that  a  social  phenomenon  is  big,  and  who  do  not  know 
what  has  been  before,  say  that  it  is  unparalleled  in  history. 
There  has  been  an  advancing  paralysis  of  enterprise  and 
arrest  of  credit  ever  since  the  Sherman  act  of  1890  was 
passed.  The  bolters  say  that  "No  reason  can  be  found  for 
such  an  unhappy  condition  of  things  save  in  a  vicious  mone- 
tary system."  The  reason  for  it  has  been  that  the  cumu- 
lative effect  of  the  silver  legislation  was  steadily  advancing 
to  a  crisis.  The  efforts  by  which  the  effects  of  that  legisla- 
tion had  been  put  off  were  no  longer  effective,  and  it  was 
evident  that  the  country  was  on  the  verge  of  a  cataclysm 
in  which  the  standard  of  value  would  be  changed.  What 
man  can  fail  to  see  the  effect  of  such  a  fear  on  credit  and 
enterprise?  And  with  such  a  fear  in  the  market,  how  idle 
it  is  to  try  to  represent  the  trouble  as  caused  by  the  fact 
that  the  existing  standard  was  of  gold,  or  of  silver,  or  of 
anything  else!  Men  will  make  contracts  and  go  on  with 
business  by  the  use  of  any  medium,  the  terms  of  which  can 
be  defined,  understood,  and  maintained  until  the  contract 

^  Leslie's  Weekly,  September  3,  1896. 
149 


150    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

is  solved,  but  uncertainty  as  to  the  terms,  or  danger  of 
change  in  them,  makes  credit  and  enterprise  impossible.  In 
the  whole  history  of  finance  no  crisis  can  be  found  which 
was  so  utterly  unnecessary,  and  so  distinctly  caused  by  the 
measures  of  policy  which  had  gone  before  it,  as  that  of  1893. 

So  much  being  admitted  as  to  "hard  times,"  it  remains 
true,  however,  that  by  far  the  greatest  part  of  the  current 
declamation  about  hard  times  is  false.  Prosperity  and  ad- 
versity of  society  are  not  capable  of  exact  verification.  At 
all  times  some  people,  classes,  industries,  are  less  pros- 
perous than  others.  The  fashion  has  grown  up  among 
politicians  and  stump  orators  of  using  assertions  about 
prosperity  and  distress  as  arguments  for  their  purpose, 
and  parties  come  before  the  public  with  prosperity  policies. 
They  have  programs  for  "making  the  country  prosper- 
ous." If  this  country,  with  its  population,  its  resources, 
and  its  chances,  is  not  prosperous  by  the  intelligence,  in- 
dustry, and  thrift  of  its  population,  does  any  sane  man 
suppose  that  politicians  and  stump  orators  have  any  de- 
vices at  their  control  for  making  it  so?  The  orators  of  the 
present  day  see  prosperity  where  they  need  to  see  it  for  the 
purposes  of  their  argument.  They  say  that  all  gold-stand- 
ard countries  in  Europe  are  in  distress.  Mr.  St.  John  says 
that  Mexico  is  prosperous.  As  to  Canada,  we  have  seen  no 
statement.  According  to  some  discussions  which  are  cur- 
rent, the  bicycle  rivals  the  gold  standard  as  a  calamity-pro- 
ducer. As  the  bicycle  has  certainly  gravely  affected  the 
distribution  of  expenditure  and  the  accumulation  of  capital, 
its  eflBciency  as  a  crisis-maker,  in  its  degree,  whatever  that 
may  be,  can  be  rationally  discerned,  but  nobody  has  ever 
been  able  to  show  any  rational  grounds  of  belief  that  the 
gold  standard  is  a  crisis-maker. 

A  crisis  will  also  be  produced  whenever  capital  has  been 
invested  on  a  large  scale  in  any  unproductive  investment, 
whereby  it  is  not  reproduced,  but  is  lost.    The  enterprises 


CAUSE  AND  CURE  OF  HARD  TIMES  151 

are  always  made  the  basis  of  engagements  and  contracts. 
When  the  enterprises  fail,  the  engagements  cannot  be  met; 
other  engagements  based  on  these  also  fail,  and  so  on 
through  the  whole  industrial  organization.  Such  crises 
are  inevitable  in  a  new  country.  Enterprises  run  in  fash- 
ions. At  any  one  time  great  groups  of  producers  tend  to 
one  line  of  industry.  That  industry  is  sure  to  be  overdone 
and  to  come  to  a  crisis.  In  a  free  country,  where  every 
man  is  at  liberty  to  direct  his  enterprise  as  he  sees  fit,  what 
is  the  sense,  when  it  turns  out  that  he  has  made  a  mis- 
take, of  trying  to  throw  the  losses  on  other  people.'^  No  one 
would  propose  it  as  to  an  individual  or  a  number,  but  when 
there  is  a  great  interest  it  makes  itself  a  political  power  and 
produces  a  platform  for  the  same  purpose,  generally  with 
inflated  principles  of  humanity,  justice,  democracy,  and 
Americanism  as  wind-attachments  to  make  it  float. 

Mr.  St.  John  says  that  the  farmers  are  spending  ten 
dollars  an  acre  to  get  eight  or  nine  dollars  an  acre.  What 
farmer  in  the  United  States  can  tell  how  many  dollars 
he  spends  on  an  acre.''  Wliat  is  the  sense  of  these  pre- 
tendedly  accurate  figures.''  But,  if  they  had  sense,  what 
would  be  the  gain  of  cutting  the  dollars  in  two.''  If  the 
farmer  spent  twenty  silver  dollars  on  an  acre  and  got  back 
sixteen  or  eighteen,  how  would  he  be  benefited.''  The  dol- 
lars of  outlay  are  of  the  same  kind  as  the  dollars  of  return 
in  any  case.  If  it  is  true  that  the  return  does  not  equal  the 
outlay,  it  must  be  on  account  of  some  facts  of  production, 
and  it  requires  but  a  moment's  reflection  to  see  that  chang- 
ing the  currency  in  which  outlay  and  income  are  reckoned 
cannot  change  the  relation  between  the  two. 

A  dispassionate  view  of  facts  will  go  to  prove  that  the 
world  is  reasonably  and  ordinarily  prosperous  at  the  pres- 
ent time,  except  where  particular  classes  and  industries  are 
affected  by  special  circumstances,  as  some  classes  and  in- 
dustries are  being  affected  at  all  times.     The  land-owners 


152    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

of  western  Europe  are  in  distress  on  account  of  the  com- 
petition of  new  land,  with  cheapened  means  of  transporta- 
tion, but  now  we  are  told  that  the  holders  of  the  other  side 
of  the  competition,  the  land-owners  of  the  new  soil,  are  vic- 
tims of  distress.  It  must  be,  then,  that  too  much  labor  and 
capital  are  being  expended  on  the  soil  the  world  over,  and 
that,  too,  in  spite  of  all  the  protective  tariffs  drawing  people 
to  the  textile  and  metal  industries.  Our  silver  men  say  that 
this  is  not  the  correct  inference.  They  say  that  the  people 
on  the  new  land  suffer  because  the  prices  are  set  in  coins 
of  gold  and  the  debits  and  credits  are  kept  in  terms  of  those 
coins.  The  prices  are  fixed  in  the  world's  market  in  gold. 
They  will  be  so  fixed,  whatever  we  may  do  with  our  coin- 
age laws.  If  the  proceeds,  in  being  brought  home,  are  con- 
verted into  silver  value,  a  new  opportunity  for  brokerage 
and  exchange  gambling  will  be  given  to  the  hated  bankers 
and  brokers  of  Wall  Street.  That  is  the  only  difference 
which  will  be  produced.  It  would  be  far  more  sensible  to 
say  that  distress  is  produced  by  doing  the  business  on  the 
English  system  of  weights  and  measures,  in  bushels  and 
pecks,  and  that  prosperity  would  be  produced  by  doing  it 
on  the  metric  system,  in  litres  and  hectolitres,  for  that 
charge  would  at  least  be  harmless.  Our  distress  could  all 
be  dispelled  in  a  week  by  an  act  of  Congress  making  all 
contracts,  beyond  political  peradventure,  that  which  they 
are  in  law  and  fact,  gold  contracts. 

There  is,  however,  another  cause  of  hard  times  for  some 
people  which  is  far  more  important  in  our  present  case  than 
any  other.  That  is  the  case  of  the  boom  which  has  col- 
lapsed. We  hear  a  great  deal  about  "Wall  Street  gam- 
bling." The  gambling  in  Wall  Street  is  insignificant 
compared  with  the  gambling  in  land,  buildings,  town  sites, 
and  crops  which  goes  on  all  over  the  country,  and  which  is 
participated  in  chiefly  by  the  men  who  declaim  about 
Wall  Street.     For  three  hundred  years   our  history  has 


CAUSE  AND  CURE  OF  HARD  TIMES  153 

been  marked  by  the  alternations  of  "prosperity"  and  "dis- 
tress" which  are  produced  by  the  booms  and  their  col- 
lapses. When  the  collapse  comes  the  people  who  are  left 
long  of  goods  and  land  always  make  a  great  outcry  and 
start  a  political  agitation.  Their  favorite  device  always  is 
to  try  to  inflate  the  currency  and  raise  prices  again  until 
they  can  unload. 

It  is  a  very  popular  thing  to  tell  men  that  they  have  a 
grievance.  That  most  of  them  find  it  hard  to  earn  as  much 
money  as  they  need  to  spend  goes  without  saying.  Now 
comes  the  wily  orator  and  tells  them  that  this  is  somebody's 
fault.  In  old  times,  if  a  man  was  sick,  it  was  always  as- 
sumed that  somebody  had  bewitched  him.  The  witch  was 
to  be  sought.  The  medicine-man  had  to  name  somebody, 
and  then  woe  to  the  one  who  was  named.  Our  medicine- 
men say  that  it  is  the  gold-bugs,  Wall  Street,  England,  who 
are  to  blame  for  hard  times.  Whether  there  is  any  rational 
proof  of  connection  is  as  immaterial  as  it  always  was  in 
witchcraft.  It  is  a  case  of  pain  and  passion.  The  "gold 
standard"  has  done  it!  There  is  something  to  hate  and  de- 
nounce. All  would  be  well  if  silver  could  be  coined  at  four 
hundred  and  twelve  and  a  haK  grains  to  the  dollar.  But 
the  assumption  is  that  while  the  farmers  would  sell  their 
products  for  twice  as  many  "dollars"  as  now,  in  silver,  all 
the  prices  of  things  which  they  want  to  buy  would  remain 
at  the  same  number  of  dollars  and  cents  as  now,  in  gold; 
that  is,  it  is  believed  that  wheat  would  be  at,  say,  one  dol- 
lar and  fifty  cents  per  bushel  in  silver,  instead  of  seventy- 
five  cents  in  gold,  but  that  cloth  would  remain  at  fifty 
cents  a  yard  in  silver,  if  it  is  now  fifty  cents  a  yard  in  gold. 
WTien  this  assumption  is  brought  out  into  clear  words,  every 
one  knows  that  such  can  never  be  the  result.  The  proposed 
cure  is  like  a  witch  cure.  It  lacks  rational  basis,  and  can- 
not command  the  confidence  of  men  of  sense.  If  the  times 
were  ever  so  bad,  such  a  cure  could  only  make  them  worse. 


THE    FREE-COINAGE    SCHEIVIE   IS    IMPRAC- 
TICABLE AT  EVERY  POINT 


THE    FREE-COINAGE    SCHEME    IS   IMPRAC- 
TICABLE AT  EVERY  POINTS 


The  Program. 


IN  two  former  articles  I  have  discussed  some  points 
which  are  presented  by  the  advocates  of  the  free  coin- 
age of  silver,  on  the  assumption  that  their  project  was 
feasible  and  their  conception  of  its  operation  correct. 
They  have  laid  out  a  program;  free  coinage,  silver  standard, 
great  demand  for  silver,  rise  of  prices,  rise  in  the  value  of 
silver,  cancellation  of  debts,  prosperity.  They  now  ad- 
mit that  this  program  would  involve  a  panic,  but  it  would 
come  out,  they  say,  at  the  desired  result  in  two  or  three 
years.  They  denounce  the  gold  standard  as  having  caused 
hard  times,  but  they  plan  a  program  with  a  panic  as  an 
incident  on  the  way  to  a  silver  standard  as  if  it  was  a  trifle. 
There  is  not  a  step  in  this  program  which  could  or  would 
be  carried  out  as  planned. 

Free  Silver  Means  Fiat  Paper  Money. 

The  amount  of  circulating  cash  of  all  kinds  in  the  hands 
of  the  people  at  the  present  time  is  about  nine  hundred 
millions.  If  the  dollar  was  reduced  to  half  its  present 
value,  and  if  allowance  was  made  for  reserves,  two  thou- 
sand million  silver  dollars  would  be  the  specie  requirement 
of  the  country.  We  already  have  nearly  five  hundred 
millions  of  such  dollars.  Hence  the  country  could  not  use 
at  the  utmost,  if  the  new  silver  dollar  was  worth  not  more 
than  half  the  present  gold  dollar,  and  if  the  total  circula- 


1  Leslie's  Weekly,  September  10,  1896. 
157 


158    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

tion  consisted  of  silver  without  any  paper,  but  three  times 
as  many  more  silver  dollars  as  we  have  now.  But  every 
one  knows  that  such  a  state  of  the  currency  never  would 
exist.  We  should  have  paper  "based  on  silver";  that  is 
to  say,  the  silver  inflation  never  will  be  carried  out.  It 
will  turn  to  paper  inflation  at  the  first  step.  Who  can  be- 
lieve that,  if  the  silver  standard  was  adopted,  silver  would 
be  bought  and  piled  up  dollar  for  dollar  against  the  paper, 
and  that  the  paper  would  be  issued  only  as  fast  as  the  silver 
could  be  coined?  In  fact,  silver  would  no  doubt  be  dropped 
and  forgotten,  and  we  should  have  plain  and  straightfor- 
ward fiat  money  of  paper.  Such  ought  to  be  faced  as  the 
only  real  sense  and  probable  outcome  of  the  present  agita- 
tion for  the  free  coinage  of  silver. 

Limit  of  the  Amount  of  Silver  which  could  be 
Absorbed. 

Let  us,  however,  proceed  upon  the  assumption  that  the 
plan  proposed  is  sincere,  and  that  the  attempt  would  be 
made  to  carry  it  out  in  good  faith.  The  circulation  in  the 
hands  of  the  people  would  be  paper,  for  they  would  be- 
come sick  of  silver  and  revolt  against  it.  There  would 
then  be  two  thousand  million  dollars  in  paper  afloat,  each 
"dollar"  being  of  silver  and  worth  half  a  present  gold  one. 
We  have  now  five  hundred  million  silver  dollars.  At  the 
utmost  not  more  than  another  five  hundred  millions  of 
silver  could  be  absorbed  into  the  system.  That  would  give 
reserves  of  fifty  per  cent  of  the  total  currency,  and  that  is 
the  maximum  of  the  demand  for  silver  which  could  be 
created  if  the  United  States  went  over  to  the  silver  stand- 
ard. The  supply  would  come  from  all  over  the  earth.  Mr. 
St.  John  is  sure  that  none  would  come  from  Europe,  be- 
cause legal  tender  silver  there  is  at  a  higher  ratio  than  six- 
teen to  one.     Not  a  nation  in  Europe  which  is  now  under 


FREE-COINAGE   SCHEME   IMPRACTICABLE     159 

the  yoke  of  silver  would  hesitate  a  moment  to  demonetize 
it  and  send  it  here  if  we  opened  our  mints  to  it  at  sixteen  to 
one.  He  also  assures  us  that  none  would  come  here  from 
the  East  because  the  course  of  silver  has  always  been  from 
West  to  East.  The  course  of  silver  has  turned  from  East 
to  West  more  than  once  when  there  was  a  profit  on  bring- 
ing it  back,  and  that  is  the  only  condition  necessary  to  bring 
it  back  again.  Japan  would  adopt  a  gold  currency  the  mo- 
ment that  the  United  States  adopted  a  silver  one. 

It  is  Impossible  Indefinitely  to  Increase  the 
Circulation. 

The  power  of  our  currency  to  absorb  silver  is  not  un- 
Hmited.     People  seem  to  believe  that  they  can  go  on  and 
increase    the    monetary    circulation    indefinitely.     This    is 
possible  with  paper,  which  has  no  commodity  value  and 
cannot  be  exported,  always  understanding  that  the  paper 
will  depreciate  as  issued,  but  it  is  not  possible  with  any 
money  which  has  commodity  value.     When  silver  has  been 
put  into  circulation  here  to  such  an  amount  that  all  the 
fictitious  value  given  to  it  by  the  coinage  law  has  been 
eliminated  —  that  is  to  say,  when  so  many  silver  dollars, 
or  paper  bearing  the  obligation  of  silver  dollars,  have  been 
issued  as  will  equal  in  value  the  present  circulation  —  then 
there  will  be  no  profit  in  sending  silver  here  from  elsewhere, 
and  no  more  profit  in  minting  silver  here  than  in  sendmg 
it  elsewhere.    As  we  have  seen,  there  is  no  reason  to  estimate 
the  amount  of  silver  which  would  be  absorbed  in  this  op- 
eration at  more  than  five  hundred  millions.     The  miners 
are  making  all  this  agitation  for  the  sake  of  that  share 
which  they  could  get  in  furnishing  this  sum.     That  share 
would  really  not  exceed  the  silver  they  had  on  hand  when 
the  law  was  put  in  force. 


160     THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

Antagonistic  Interests  of  Miners  and  Populists. 

What  share,  then,  would  the  silver-miners  get  in  the 
results  of  the  enterprise?  They  could  get  none  unless  the 
new  silver  was  bought  only  of  them,  and  only  bought  grad- 
ually as  they  produced  it,  and  bought  at  a  rising  price  as 
the  demand  of  debtors  acted  upon  it.  Not  one  of  these 
conditions  would  be  fulfilled.  The  debtors  and  the  silver- 
miners  really  have  antagonistic  interests  at  every  point.  It 
has  been  proposed  that  only  American  silver  should  be  ac- 
cepted at  the  mint.  That  plan  is  impracticable  in  any 
case,  but,  when  the  Populists  had  their  victory  in  hand, 
does  anybody  suppose  that  they  would  wait  eight  or  ten 
years  for  the  realization  of  their  hopes  while  the  mines 
were  producing  new  silver,  being  certain  that  that  delay 
would  cause  all  they  hoped  for  to  slip  through  their  fingers.'* 
I  repeat:  The  interests  of  the  two  factions  are  all  antag- 
onistic to  each  other,  and  one  of  them  is  destined  inevit- 
ably to  be  the  dupe  of  the  other.  That  destiny  is  reserved 
for  the  miners  who,  besides,  are  paying  all  the  expenses. 

Already,  so  far  as  the  campaign  has  proceeded,  this  an- 
tagonism has  begun  to  manifest  itself.  Mr.  Bryan  says 
that  his  plan  will  make  silver  worth  one  dollar  and  twenty- 
nine  cents  per  ounce  fine.  He  thus  takes  his  position  with 
the  miners'  faction.  Thereupon  the  organs  of  the  repudi- 
ators'  faction  have  begun  to  remonstrate.  That  is  not  at 
all  what  they  are  fighting  for.  They  do  not  want  their 
scheme  to  raise  silver  at  all.  But  if  it  does  not,  the  miners 
gain  nothing.  If  it  does,  then  again  the  repudiators  take 
to  paper  money  and  the  miners  win  nothing. 

The  mechanical  diflficulty  of  recoining  the  silver  with  the 
necessary  rapidity  could  probably  be  overcome.  There  are 
machine-shops  enough  to  do  it  if  there  was  a  party  in  power 
which  had  that  reckless  determination  to  execute  its  will 
which  these  people  show.  We  may,  therefore,  go  on  to 
consider  the  rise  of  prices. 


FREE-COINAGE  SCHEME  IMPRACTICABLE     161 

The  Rise  of  Prices. 

The  rise  in  prices  would  regularly  occur  only  as  the  new 
silver  or  paper  was  put  out,  but  as  the  consequences  wou  d 
all  be  discounted  it  would  be  sudden  and  rapid.     It  would 
not,  however,  affect  all  things  at  the  same  time  or  to  an 
equal  degree.     It  is  here  that  one  of  the  first  disappomt- 
ments  would  occur.     It  is  not  possible  to  put  up  prices 
when  and  as  one  would  like  to  do  it,  even  when  the  rise  is 
due  to  inflation.     The  effect  cannot  all  be  distributed  at 
once      An  advance  in  price  reacts  on  business  relations, 
that  is,  on  the  industrial  organization.     Many  people  and 
many  interests  find  that  they  cannot  push  agamst  others 
until  long  after  they  have  been  pushed  against  themselves. 
The  wages  class  and  the  farmers  are  the  ones  who  are  most 
clearly  in  this  position,  at  least  as  far  as  the  latter  do  not 
produce  articles  for  export.     It  must  be  plain  that  m  such 
a  convulsion  of  the  market  everybody  will  try  to  save  him- 
self at  the  expense  of  others.     Who  will  succeed?     Those 
certainly  who  spend  their  lives  in  the  market  and  already 
possess  the  control  of  its  machinery;   not  those  whose  time 
is  occupied  in  the  details  of  production. 

Where  the  Expected  Gains  would  Go. 
It  is  said  that  the  farmer  would  sell  his  grain  and  cot- 
ton, as  now,  for  gold;  that  he  would  exchange  the  gold  for 
silver;  would  get  the  silver  coined  and  would  pay  his 
debts  with  it.  Would  any  individual  farmer  do  this^ 
Would  any  one  man  go  through  the  steps  of  this  operation.'' 
—  see  the  buyer  of  his  products,  handle  the  gold  and  silver, 
go  to  the  mint?  Certainly  not.  All  these  operations 
would  go  on  through  the  commercial  and  financial  ma- 
chinery. They  would  be  executed  by  different  mdividuals, 
in  the  way  of  business,  through  the  organization,  and  every 


162    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

one  of  them  would  be  lost  to  view.  Every  operation  would 
have  to  be  paid  for.  Every  operation  would  give  a  new 
chance  for  more  middlemen  and  more  charges.  Would, 
then,  the  gains  of  this  grand  scheme  go  to  the  farmer? 
Not  at  all.  They  would  go  to  the  "brokers  and  specu- 
lators of  Wall  Street."  They  would  be  lost  in  commissions 
and  charges.  The  type  of  operator  whom  the  Populist 
seems  to  think  of  when  he  talks  about  "Wall  Street  sharks," 
exists,  although  his  importance  in  Wall  Street  is  not 
as  great  as  that  of  the  political  farmer  in  agriculture;  but 
this  type  of  man  does  not  care  what  the  currency  legisla- 
tion is,  except  that  he  would  like  to  have  a  great  deal  of  it, 
and  to  have  it  very  mixed.  Whatever  it  is,  when  it  is 
made  and  he  sees  what  it  is,  he  will  proceed  to  operate 
upon  it. 

Playing  into  the  Hands  of  the  Money  Sharks. 

We  hear  fierce  denunciations  of  what  is  called  the  "money 
power."  It  is  spoken  of  as  mighty,  demoniacal,  dangerous, 
and  schemes  are  proposed  for  mastering  it  which  are  futile 
and  ridiculous,  if  it  is  what  it  is  said  to  be.  Every  one  of 
these  schemes  only  opens  chances  for  money-jobbers  and 
financial  wreckers  to  operate  upon  brokerages  and  dif- 
ferences while  making  legitimate  finance  hazardous  and 
expensive,  thereby  adding  to  the  cost  of  commercial  op- 
erations. The  parasites  on  the  industrial  system  flourish 
whenever  the  system  is  complicated.  Confusion,  disorder, 
irregularity,  uncertainty  are  the  conditions  of  their  growth. 
The  surest  means  to  kill  them  is  to  make  the  currency  ab- 
solutely simple  and  absolutely  sound.  Is  it  not  childish 
for  simple,  honest  people  to  set  up  a  currency  system  which 
is  full  of  subtleties  and  mysteries,  and  then  to  suppose  that 
they,  and  not  the  men  of  craft  and  guile,  will  get  the  profits 
of  it? 


THE  DELUSION  OF  THE  DEBTORS 


THE  DELUSION  OF  THE  DEBTORS » 

FIFTY  years  ago  a  political  agitation  was  started  for 
the  annexation  of  Texas.  As  the  enterprise  appeared 
like  a  barefaced  piece  of  land-grabbing,  it  was  necessary  to 
invent  some  historical,  political,  and  moral  theories  which 
would  give  it  another  color.  One  such  theory  was  that 
Texas  had  properly  belonged  to  us,  but  that  it  was  given 
away  by  Monroe  and  Adams  in  1819.  Therefore  the  project 
was  presented  as  one  for  the  re-annexation  of  Texas. 

The  Re-monetization  of  Silver. 

An  attempt  is  now  made  to  impugn  the  coinage  act  of 
1873  under  various  points  of  view,  in  order  to  lay  a  founda- 
tion for  the  claim  that  it  is  only  sought  now  to  re-monetize 
silver.  Not  a  single  imputation  on  the  act  of  1873  has  ever 
been  presented  which  will  stand  examination,  but,  if  that 
were  not  so,  that  act  was  like  any  other  act  of  Congress 
which  has  become  the  law  of  the  land,  and  under  which 
we  have  all  been  obliged  to  live  for  twenty-five  years. 
We  cannot  go  back  and  undo  the  law  and  live  the  twenty- 
five  years  over  again.  All  the  mistakes  and  follies  of  the 
past  are  gone  into  the  past  for  all  classes  and  all  persons 
amongst  us.  The  men  of  the  past  must  be  assumed  to  have 
acted  according  to  their  light,  and  we  who  inherit  the  con- 
sequences of  what  they  did  must  make  the  best  of  both  the 
good  and  ill  of  it,  as  the  case  may  be,  or  as  we  think  it  is. 
If  now  we  make  a  new  coinage  law  it  must  stand  on  its  own 
merits,  and  on  the  responsibility  of  the  men  who  make  it, 
now  and  for  the  future.  All  references  back  to  1873  are 
idle  and  irrelevant. 

^  Leslie's  Weekly,  September  17,  1896. 
165 


166    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

The  plain  fact,  therefore,  to  be  faced  without  any  dis- 
guise, is  that  we  are  invited  to  debase  the  coinage  and  lower 
the  standard  of  value,  now  and  for  the  future,  as  a  free  act 
of  political  choice,  to  be  deliberately  adopted  in  a  time  of 
profound  peace,  and  that  this  is  to  be  done  with  the  inten- 
tion and  hope  that  it  will  perpetrate  a  bankruptcy  at  fifty 
cents  on  the  dollar  for  all  existing  debtors.  Can  this  project 
be  executed?  It  cannot.  The  scheme  and  plan  of  it  for 
a  nation  of  seventy  million  people  is  silly  and  wicked  at 
the  same  time,  and  is  both,  beyond  the  power  of  words  to 
express.  The  projectors  of  it  deal  with  the  economic  phe- 
nomena of  a  great  nation  as  if  they  were  talking  about  a 
game  at  cards,  and  they  plan  to  do  this  with  prices  and 
that  with  debts,  this  with  exports  and  that  with  banks,  as 
if  they  were  planning  a  program  for  building  a  barn.  If 
we  try  to  realize  the  operation  proposed  we  shall  see  how 
childish  and  absurd  it  is. 

We  must  distinguish  between  three  classes  of  debtors: 
great  financial  institutions,  small  mortgagors,  and  partners 
in  collapsed  booms. 

Financial  Institutions  as  Debtors. 

The  great  financial  institutions  are  intermediaries  be- 
tween debtors  and  creditors.  They  have  received  capital 
from  some  people  and  lent  it  to  others.  They  have  to 
recover  it  and  pay  it  back.  If  they  only  recover  it  at  fifty 
cents  on  the  dollar,  they  can  only  repay  it  in  the  same  way. 
What  this  would  mean  is  that  the  creditors  of  those  institu- 
tions would  be  paid  "dollars,"  but  that  when  they  tried  to 
re-invest  them  they  would  find  that  prices  had  risen  to  a 
greater  or  less  degree  in  those  dollars  for  the  things  which 
they  wanted  to  buy.  To  this  the  Populists  answer,  tri- 
umphantly, that  now  the  debtors  find  that  the  prices  of 
their  products  have  fallen,  so  that  when  they  try  to  sell 


THE  DELUSION  OF  THE  DEBTORS  167 

them  they  cannot  get  enough  to  pay  their  debts;    but  the 
debtors  are  those  who  made  contracts  and  undertook  enter- 
prises five,  ten,  fifteen,  or  twenty  years  ago,  expecting  to 
make  gains  which  they  certainly  would  have  kept.      As 
things  have  turned  out  they  have  not  made  the  gains,  and 
their  plan  is  to  escape  the  loss  by  throwing  it  on  some  one 
else.     The  institutions  in  question,  however,  are  bound  to 
protect  the  interests  of  either  body  of  their  clients,  bor- 
rowers or  depositors,  when  either  is  unjustly  threatened,  and 
they  are  by  no  means  destitute  of  means  to  do  it.    A  law 
to  forbid  specific  coin  contracts  is  but  one  step  in  the  des- 
perate policy  of  prostituting  law  and  corrupting  the  ad- 
ministration of  justice,  which  would  be  necessary  in  the 
attempt  to  force  through  the  plan  imder  discussion.     It 
would  fail  at  last,  because  the  advocates  of  it  would  find 
that,  as  the  popular  saying  is,  it  would  "fly  up  and  hit 
them  in  the  face."    It  is  not  possible  to  throw  society  and 
all  its  most  important  institutions  into  confusion  without 
ruining  all  the  interests  of  everybody,  and  at  last  every- 
body but  the  tramp  or  pauper  has  to  ask  himseK  whether 
it  will  pay.     As  for  the  institutions,  many  of  them  would 
be  ruined  in  the  operation.     It  is  not  possible  for  them 
simply  to  collect  and  repay  in  the  debased  dollars.     The 
operation  would  produce  snarls  and  knots  at  every  turn. 
Lawsuits  would  multiply  on  all  sides,  and  would  so  entan- 
gle the  affairs  of  the  institution  as  to  ruin  it.     The  proof 
of  this  is  presented  by  the  difficulties  of  liquidation  in  any 
case,  even  when  there  is  no  question  of  currency  revolu- 
tion, and  when  general  affairs  are  in  a  normal  condition, 
unless  there  is  time  and  security  for  all  the  operations.    In 
this  case  the  demands  on  the  institution  would  be  precipi- 
tated at  once,  so  far  as  the  form  of  contract  would  allow. 


168    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

Small  Mortgagors. 

The  small  mortgagors  are  either  wages-men  or  farmers. 
As  to  the  wages-men,  their  wages  would  undoubtedly  go 
up  in  time  as  prices  went  up,  but  in  the  paralysis  of  indus- 
try which  would  be  the  first  distinct  effect  of  the  plan,  as 
soon  as  it  was  known  that  the  experiment  was  to  be  made, 
immense  numbers  of  wages-men  would  be  thrown  out  of 
employment,  and  all  wages  would  fall  on  account  of  this 
condition  of  the  labor  market.  Later,  when  things  began 
to  adjust  themselves  to  the  new  basis,  wages  would  be  low 
with  prices  high,  both  in  silver.  Advance  of  wages  would 
come,  but  it  would  have  to  be  won  through  strikes  and  a 
prolonged  industrial  war.  In  the  state  of  things  supposed 
it  would  be  every  man  for  himself.  The  wages  class  would 
be  weakest  of  all  under  the  circumstances,  as  they  are  in 
every  case  of  "hard  times."  How  would  mortgagors  of 
this  class  traverse  such  a  time  and  keep  up  their  interest .?* 
As  to  the  principal,  which  is  to  be  halved,  it  cannot  be 
halved  unless  it  is  paid,  and  the  mortgagor  has  nothing 
to  pay  it  with  except  the  surplus  which  he  can  save  from 
his  wages  over  the  cost  of  living.  The  project  promises  woe 
and  ruin  to  the  wages  class,  with  industrial  war  and  class 
hatred  as  moral  consequences  of  the  most  far-reaching 
importance. 

Farmer-Mortgagors  . 

The  farmers  expect  to  double  the  price  of  their  products, 
and  so  get  silver  to  pay  off  their  mortgages.  It  has 
been  shown  elsewhere^  how  illusory  this  expectation  is  as 
regards  prices.  Prices  would  rise,  indeed,  in  silver,  but 
irregularly  and  unequally.  They  would  rise  for  all  things 
which  a  farmer  buys  as  well  as  for  all  that  he  sells.  If,  as 
the  silver  theorists  generally  say,  all  prices  were  to  rise 

1  Pp.  161-162. 


THE  DELUSION  OF  THE  DEBTORS  169 

uniformly,  the  farmer  would  gain  but  little.  For  the  only 
means  he  would  win  toward  paying  off  his  mortgage  would 
be  the  surplus  of  his  income  over  his  outgo,  and  this  he 
could  only  apply  year  by  year  as  he  won  it.  If,  then,  the 
whole  scheme  could  be  made  to  work  smoothly  provided  the 
victims  of  it  would  submit  to  it  without  resistance,  does 
this  afford  any  probability  of  realizing  the  great  hopes 
which  are  built  upon   the  scheme.^ 

Social  War  the  Consequence. 

But  victims  would  not  submit  without  resistance,  and 
once  more  we  come  to  the  result  that  no  effect  can  be  ex- 
pected from  this  undertaking  but  social  war,  and  a  con- 
vulsion of  the  entire  social  system,  whose  consequences 
defy  analysis  or  prediction.  If  a  man  says  that  he  "does 
not  see"  what  great  difference  going  over  to  the  silver  stand- 
ard will  make,  it  must  be  that  he  is  little  trained  to  under- 
stand the  workings  of  the  industrial  system  in  which  he 
lives  and  on  which  he  depends.  It  is  a  monstrous  thing 
that  a  free,  self-governing  people  should  join  a  political 
battle,  in  this  year  of  grace  1896,  over  the  question  whether 
to  debase  their  coinage  or  not. 

The  Exploded  Booms. 

The  third  class  of  debtors  is  by  far  the  most  important 
in  this  matter  —  those  who  are  caught  in  exploded  booms. 
The  peaceful  and  honest  mortgagors  of  farms  and  home- 
steads are  not  the  ones  who  have  gotten  up  this  political 
agitation.  The  jobbers,  speculators,  and  boom-promoters 
have  been  one  of  the  curses  of  this  country  from  the  earliest 
colonial  days.  They  are  men  of  the  "hustling"  type,  job- 
bing in  politics  with  one  hand  and  in  land  or  town  lots 
with  the  other.     It  is  they  who,  at  the  worst  periods  of 


170     THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

financial  trouble  in  our  history,  have  always  appeared  in 
the  lobby,  eager  for  "relief,"  declaiming  about  the 
"people,"  the  "money  power,"  the  "banks,"  "England," 
etc.  They  have  always  favored  schemes  for  fraudulent 
banks,  or  paper  money,  or  state  subsidies,  or  other  plans 
by  which  they  could  unload  on  the  state  or  on  their  credi- 
tors. Just  now  it  is  silver,  because  silver  has  fallen  within 
twenty-five  years  so  much  that  it  is  what  is  called  "cheap 
money."  This  type  of  men  have  always  used  a  dialect, 
part  of  which  is  quoted  above,  which  is  so  well  marked 
that  it  suflaces  to  identify  them.  The  history  of  financial 
distress  in  this  country  is  full  of  it.  No  scheme  which 
has  ever  been  devised  by  them  has  ever  made  a  collapsed 
boom  go  up  again.  With  very  few  exceptions,  they  have, 
on  account  of  such  expedients,  only  floundered  deeper  in 
the  mire.  The  exceptions  have  been  those  who  have  suc- 
ceeded in  making  the  state  provide  them  with  capital,  al- 
though by  no  means  all  of  these  have  been  hard-headed 
enough  to  use  it  to  "get  out."  Generally  they  believe  in 
themselves  and  their  schemes,  and  use  new  capital  only  to 
plunge  in  again  still  deeper. 

It  is  men  of  this  class  and  the  silver-miners  who  have 
brought  the  present  trouble  upon  us,  who  have  invented 
and  preached  the  notions  about  the  crime  of  '73,  the  hard 
times,  the  magical  influence  of  silver,  and  all  the  rest.  It 
is  they  who  have  filled  and  engineered  conventions.  They 
will  gain  no  more  now  than  in  any  former  crisis,  but  they 
insist  on  involving  us  all  in  turmoil,  risk,  and  ruin  by  their 
schemes  to  save  themselves. 


THE   CRIME   OF   1873 


THE   CRIME  OF   1873^ 

Legislative  History  of  the  Act  of  1873. 

IT  is  alleged  that  the  law  of  1873  was  enacted  surrep- 
titiously. Mr.  Bryan  is  quoted  as  having  said  that  the 
free-coinage  men  only  ask  for  a  restoration  of  "that  system 
that  we  had  until  it  was  stricken  down  in  the  dark  without 
discussion."  Within  the  last  ten  years  the  facts  of  the  leg- 
islative history  of  that  law  have  been  published  over  and 
over  again.  They  are  to  be  found  in  the  report  of  the 
Comptroller  of  the  Currency  for  1876,  page  170;  in  "Mac- 
pherson's  Political  Manual"  for  1890,  page  157,  and  in 
"Sound  Currency,"  Vol.  Ill,  No.  13.  The  bill  was  before 
Congress  three  years,  was  explained  and  debated  again  and 
again.  The  fact  that  the  silver  dollar  was  dropped  was 
expressly  pointed  out.  It  is  not  now  justifiable  for  any 
man  who  claims  to  be  honest  and  responsible  to  assert  that 
it  was  passed  "in  the  dark  and  without  discussion."  The 
fact  is  that  nobody  cared  about  it.  It  is  noteworthy  that 
the  act  is  not  in  "Macpherson's  Manual"  for  1874.  It  was 
not  thought  to  be  of  any  importance.  It  was  not  until 
after  the  panic  of  1873  that  attention  began  to  be  given  to 
the  currency.  To  that,  I  who  write  can  testify,  since  I  tried 
in  vain,  before  that  time,  to  excite  any  interest  in  the  sub- 
ject. I  was  once  in  the  gallery  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives when  a  question  of  coinage  was  before  the  House.  I 
counted  those  members  who,  as  far  as  I  could  judge,  were 
paying  any  attention.  There  were  six.  WTiat  is  it  neces- 
sary to  do  in  such  a  case  in  order  to  prevent  the  claim, 
twenty-five  years  later,  when  countless  interests  have  vested 

*  Leslie's  Weekly,  September  24,  1896. 
173 


174     THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

under  the  law,  that  the  law  is  open  to  "reversal"  because 
it  was  passed  "in  the  dark"? 

Was  it  Passed  Surreptitiously? 

How  can  a  law  be  passed  through  Congress  surrep- 
titiously? We  have  indeed  heard  of  bills  being  "smug- 
gled through"  in  the  confusion  attending  the  last  hours 
of  the  session,  or  as  an  amendment,  or  under  a  misleading 
title.  There  are  the  rules  of  order,  however,  by  which 
all  legislation  is  enacted.  All  laws  which  get  through  the 
mill  are  equally  valid.  There  never  has  been  and  never 
can  be  any  distinction  drawn  between  them  according  to 
their  legislative  history.  In  the  present  case  there  was  not 
the  slightest  manoeuvre  or  trick,  nor  is  there  even  room  to 
trump  up  an  allegation  of  the  kind. 

That  the  People  Did  Not  Know  of  It. 

It  is  said  that  "the  people"  did  not  know  what  was 
being  done.  How  do  they  ever  know  what  is  being  done? 
There  is  all  the  machinery  of  publicity,  and  it  is  all  at 
work.  If  people  do  not  heed  (and  of  course  in  nearly  all 
cases  they  do  not),  whose  fault  is  it?  ^Tio  is  responsible  to 
go  to  the  ten  million  voters  individually  and  make  sure  that 
they  heed,  lest  twenty-five  years  later  somebody  may  say 
that  the  fact  that  they  did  not  heed  lays  down  a  justifica- 
tion for  a  new  project  which  certainly  is  "a  crime"  in  the 
new  sense  which  is  given  to  that  word  here? 

Motive  of  the  Law. 

The  act  of  1873  did  not  affect  any  rights  or  interests.  It 
took  away  an  option  which  had  existed  since  1834,  but  had 
never  been  used,  and,  for  ten  years  before  this  act  was 
passed,  had  sunk  entirely  out  of  sight  under  paper-money 


THE   CRIME  OF   1873  175 

inflation.  Secretary  Boutwell,  when  he  first  brought  the 
matter  to  the  attention  of  Congress  in  1870,  explained  the 
proposed  legislation  as  a  codification  of  existing  coinage 
laws.  Later  it  took  the  shape  of  a  complete  simplification 
of  existing  law,  history,  and  fact,  in  order  to  put  the  coin- 
age on  the  simplest  and  best  system  as  a  basis  for  resump- 
tion. As  we  had  then  no  coin,  we  had  a  free  hand  to  put 
the  system  on  the  best  basis,  there  being  no  vested  rights 
or  interests  to  be  disturbed.  That  this  was  a  wise  and  sound 
course  to  pursue  under  the  circumstances  is  unquestion- 
able. Three  years  later,  by  the  rise  in  greenbacks  and  the 
fall  in  silver,  it  came  about  that  four  hundred  twelve  and 
one-half  grains  of  silver,  nine-tenths  fine,  was  worth  a  little 
less  than  a  greenback  dollar.  The  old  option  would,  there- 
fore, if  still  existent,  have  been  an  advantage  to  debtors. 
Complaint  and  clamor  for  the  restoration  of  the  option 
then  began,  but  to  give  such  an  option,  after  the  market 
had  changed,  would  be  playing  with  loaded  dice.  The 
European  countries  which  still  retained  the  option  abolished 
it  as  soon  as  silver  began  to  fall,  and  we,  if  we  had  retained 
it  open  until  that  time,  ought  to  have  done  the  same. 

Alternate  Ruin  to  Debtors  and  Creditors. 

The  inflation  of  the  Civil  War  had  a  direful  effect  upon 
all  creditors  on  contracts  outstanding  in  1862.  The  resump- 
tion of  specie  payments  had  a  similar  effect  on  debtors  under 
contracts  made  between  1868  and  1878.  Greenbackism 
and  silver  debasement  were  produced  by  resistance  to  this 
operation.  The  debtors  of  to-day  are  not  those  of  that 
period.  The  debts  of  that  period  are  paid  off.  The  pain 
and  strain  have  been  borne.  The  credit  of  the  United 
States  has  been  established,  the  currency  restored,  and  the 
whole  business  of  the  country  for  seventeen  years  has  been 
completely  established  on  the  gold  dollar  as  the  dollar  of 


176     THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

account  for  all  transactions  whatsoever.  The  population 
of  the  country  is  now  two  and  a  half  times  what  it  was  in 
the  war  time,  and  its  wealth  is  probably  a  much  greater 
multiple.  The  debts  now  outstanding  have,  with  unim- 
portant exceptions,  been  contracted  since  the  resumption 
of  specie  payments.  WTiat  is  now  proposed  is  to  enter 
upon  a  new  period  of  these  alternations  of  wrong  and  in- 
justice, first  to  creditors,  then  to  debtors,  and  so  on,  and 
to  do  this  in  a  time  of  peace,  not  from  any  political  neces- 
sity, but  on  the  ground  of  some  economic  interpretations 
of  the  facts  of  the  market,  which  are  incapable  of  verifica- 
tion and  proof,  when  they  are  not  obviously  erroneous  and 
partisan.  The  effect  of  the  various  compromises  with 
silver  is  that  the  currency  is  once  more  intricate  and  com- 
plicated, excessive  and  confused,  so  that  few  can  under- 
stand it,  and  it  offers  all  sorts  of  chances  for  perverse  and 
mischievous  interpretations. 

Demonetization  Removed  No  Money  from  Use. 

The  law  of  1873  never  threw  a  dollar  of  silver  or  other 
currency  out  of  circulation.  We  hear  it  asserted  that  "de- 
monetization" destroyed  half  the  people's  money.  People 
say  this  who  know  nothing  of  the  facts,  but  infer  that  de- 
monetization must  mean  that  some  silver  dollars  which 
were  money  had  that  character  taken  from  them.  No  one 
of  the  other  demonetizations,  which  took  place  in  Europe 
at  about  the  same  time,  diminished  the  money  in  use. 
The  result  of  changes  in  1873-1874  was  that  the  amount 
of  silver  coin  in  use  in  Europe  was  greatly  increased,  and 
has  remained  so  since. 

The  resumption  of  specie  payments  after  1873  by  a 
number  of  nations  which  had  issued  paper  money  in  the 
previous  period,  and  the  alternate  expenditure  and  re-col- 
lection of  war-hoards  of  gold,  had  far  greater  importance 
than  the  demonetizations. 


THE   CRIME  OF   1873  177 

There  has  been  no  diminution  of  the  world's  coined 
money  within  fifty  years,  but  a  steady  and  rapid  increase 
of  it.  There  have  been  fluctuations  in  the  production  of 
gold  and  silver  such  as  belong  to  the  production  of  all 
m^etals  and  are  inevitable. 

The  Alleged  Scramble  for  Gold. 

There  has  been  no  "scramble  for  gold."  Those  who  do 
not  put  any  obstacle  in  the  way  of  gold  get  more  of  it  than 
they  want.  The  Bank  of  England  has  had  lately  the  larg- 
est stock  of  gold  that  it  ever  had,  and  complaints  have 
begun  to  be  heard  of  a  glut.  The  gold-production  in  the 
last  five  years  is  the  greatest  ever  known  and  there  is  no 
fear  of  any  lack  of  it,  whatever  may  be  the  sense  in  which 
any  one  chooses  to  speak  of  a  "lack."  There  is  not  and 
has  not  been  any  "scarcity  of  gold."  There  is  no  such  thing 
conceivable,  except  where  paper  has  been  issued  in  excess, 
so  that  it  is  hard  to  keep  enough  gold  to  redeem  it  with. 

Proof  that  there  has  been  no  Scarcity  of  Gold. 

There  is  one  proof  that  there  has  been  no  scarcity  of 
money  for  twenty-five  years  past  which  has  not  indeed 
passed  unnoticed,  but  which  has  not  received  the  attention 
which  it  deserves;  that  is  the  rate  of  interest.  The  rate 
of  interest  is  normally  due  to  the  supply  and  demand  of 
loanable  capital,  and  has  nothing  to  do  with  money.  The 
value  of  money  is  registered  by  prices,  not  by  the  rate  of 
interest.  But  whenever  there  is  a  special  demand  for 
money  of  account  —  that  is,  for  the  solvent  of  debts  —  the 
rate  of  interest  on  capital  passes  over  into  a  rale  for  the 
solvent  of  debts.  Banks  lend  capital  in  its  most  universal 
form,  i.e.,  the  currency  or  money  of  account,  or  bank 
credits.     If  credit  fails,  as  in  a  time  of  crisis  and    panic, 


178    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

actual  cash  in  the  money  of  account  is  wanted.  This  now 
is  loaned,  under  a  rate,  by  the  same  persons  and  institu- 
tions who  formerly  loaned  capital,  and  the  one  phenome- 
non passes  into  the  other  without  any  line  of  demarcation. 
The  transition,  however,  never  takes  place  except  in  time 
of  crisis,  and  therefore  at  a  high  rate.  From  this  it  follows 
certainly  that  never  when  the  market  rate  is  low  can  it  be 
a  rate  for  the  solvent  of  debts.  Now,  ever  since  1873,  with 
the  exception  of  periods  of  special  stringency  in  1884,  1890, 
and  1893,  we  have  had  very  low  rates  of  interest;  the  rate 
for  call  loans  (which  in  this  connection  are  the  most  im- 
portant) has  been  about  two  per  cent.  This  is  a  demon- 
stration that  the  country  has  not  been  suffering  from  a 
crisis  on  account  of  a  lack  of  currency  for  the  normal  needs 
of  business.  Proofs  could  be  presented,  on  the  other  hand, 
that  the  currency  for  the  last  six  years  has  been  constantly 
in  excess,  excepting  in  1893,  when  the  credit  of  the  currency 
failed  for  a  time. 

How  TO  Get  Poor  and  Rich  at  the  Same  Time. 

Mr.  St.  John  tries  his  hand  at  the  relation  between  prices 
and  interest  in  connection  with  our  subject.  He  says: 
"If  the  dollar  can  be  cheapened  by  increasing  the  number 
of  dollars,  so  that  each  dollar  will  buy  less  wheat,  the  in- 
creasing price  of  wheat  will  increase  the  demand  for  dollars 
to  invest  in  its  production."  Evidently  he  fails  to  dis- 
tinguish between  the  rise  in  price  of  wheat  from  one  gold 
dollar  to  two  gold  dollars  per  bushel,  and  the  rise  in  wheat 
from  one  gold  dollar  to  two  fifty-cent  silver  dollars  per 
bushel.  The  former  would  undoubtedly  stimulate  pro- 
duction. The  latter  would  do  so  also,  among  farmers  who 
shared  Mr.  St.  John's  confusion  on  this  matter.  There 
would  be  many  of  them.  They  would  imagine  that  they 
were  getting  rich  by  raising  wheat  to  sell  at  two  silver  dol- 


THE   CRIME   OF   1873  179 

lars,  or  five,  ten,  fifteen,  or  twenty  paper  dollars,  as  depre- 
ciation went  on.  Hence,  as  he  says,  they  would  pay  a 
banker  eight,  ten,  twelve,  or  fifteen  per  cent,  in  the  de- 
preciated dollars,  in  order  to  get  "money,"  as  he  calls  it, 
with  which  to  raise  wheat.  Mr.  St.  John  thinks  that  this 
would  mean  that  farmer  and  banker  were  both  magnifi- 
cently prosperous.  It  would  mean  that  the  real  value 
which  came  in  was  steadily  growing  less  than  that  which 
went  out,  so  that  the  capital  was  being  consumed.  Hence 
the  high  rates  of  inflation  times,  and  the  disaster  which 
follows  when  the  truth  is  realized.  They  told  a  story  in 
Revolutionary  times  of  a  man  who  invested  his  capital  in  a 
hogshead  of  rum  which  he  sold  out  at  an  enormous  ad- 
vance—  in  Continental  paper;  but  when  he  went  to  buy 
a  new  supply,  all  his  "money"  would  only  buy  a  barrel. 
This  he  retailed  out  at  another  enormous  advance  —  in 
Continental  —  but  when  he  went  to  buy  more  he  had  only 
enough  money  to  buy  a  gallon.  If  he  had  borrowed  his 
first  capital  he  might  have  paid  twenty  per  cent  for  it  — 
in  Continental  —  but  the  banker  would  hardly  have  made 
a  good  affair. 

Monopoly  of  the  Money. 

We  hear  it  asserted  that  the  gold  standard  gives  the 
owners  of  gold  power  to  appropriate  the  money  and  make 
it  scarce,  and  that  they  have  used  this  power.  Why,  then, 
under  silver  or  paper,  may  not  the  holders  of  silver  or  paper 
do  the  same.^  That  the  holders  of  gold  have  not  done  it 
has  been  shown  above.  But  nobody  can  do  it  with  any 
kind  of  value  money.  There  are  no  "holders  of  gold." 
He  who  holds  gold  wins  no  gains  on  it.  The  bankers  who 
are  supposed  to  hold  it,  if  peace  and  security  reign,  put  it 
all  out  at  loan  in  order  to  get  gain  on  it.  When  peace  and 
security  do  not  reign  it  is  not  safe  to  put  it  out,  and  bor- 
rowers, fearing  to  engage  in  new  enterprises,  do  not  present 


180    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

a  demand  for  it.  Furthermore,  the  greatest  gains  can  then 
be  won  by  holding  money  ready  to  buy  property  when  the 
crash  comes.  That  is  what  those  who  own  surpluses  are 
doing  now.  Hence  there  are  no  "holders  of  gold"  until 
monetary  threats  and  dangers  call  them  into  existence. 
Silver  legislation  has  made  a  great  many.  The  law  of  1873 
never  made  any. 

There  is  not,  therefore,  a  fact  or  deduction  about  the  law 
of  1873,  or  the  history  of  the  market  since,  which  the  silver 
men  have  put  forward,  which  will  stand  examination. 


A  CONCURRENT  CIRCULATION  OF  GOLD 
AND  SILVER 


A  CONCURRENT  CIRCULATION  OF   GOLD 
AND   SILVER 

[1878] 

IT  seems  as  if  the  United  States  were  destined  to  be  the 
arena  for  testing  experimentally  every  fallacy  in  re- 
gard to  money  which  has  ever  been  propounded.  A  few 
years  ago  only  a  very  few  people  here  had  ever  heard  of 
the  "double  standard"  or  knew  what  it  meant.  In  1873 
we  became  simply  and  distinctly  a  "gold  country"  in  law, 
as  we  had  been  for  forty  years  in  fact.  Immediately  after 
that  date  silver  began  to  fall  in  value  relatively  to  gold, 
so  that,  if  we  had  been  on  the  "double  standard,"  and  had 
not  been  deterred  by  considerations  of  honor,  morality, 
and  public  credit,  which  considerations  kept  the  double- 
standard  countries  from  taking  that  course,  we  could  have 
paid  our  debts  in  silver  at  an  advantage.  Forthwith  all 
those  persons  who  had  before  been  racking  their  brains  to 
devise  some  scheme  for  resumption  without  pain  or  sacri- 
fice, turned  their  attention  to  silver,  and  began  to  devise 
plans  for  getting  back  to  the  position  which,  as  they  thought, 
we  had  unwisely  abandoned.  The  consequence  has  been 
that,  for  the  last  year,  the  country  has  produced  number- 
less editorials,  essays,  lectures,  and  speeches,  full  of  the  most 
crude  sophistry,  and  the  most  astonishing  errors  as  to  all 
the  elementary  doctrines  of  coinage  and  money.  The 
favorite  object  of  all  these  schemes  is  to  find  some  means 
of  increasing  the  amount  of  money  at  the  disposal  of  the 
world,  or  of  this  nation,  so  as  to  raise  prices  and  make  it 
easier  to  pay  debts.  These  schemes  have  taken  their 
point  of  departure  in  the  speculations  of  some  European 

183 


184     THE  FORGOTTEN   MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

economists.  In  Europe  the  propositions  of  the  economists 
in  question  have  never  passed  beyond  the  realm  of  specu- 
lation and  theoretical  discussion  amongst  professional 
economists.  They  have  been  regarded  by  some  as  prob- 
ably sound,  and  capable  of  being  made  the  basis  of  advan- 
tageous legislation.  By  others,  superior  in  number  and 
authority,  they  have  been  regarded  as  unsound.  Inasmuch 
as  they  involve  an  international  coinage  union  between 
all  civilized  countries  and  could  be  put  to  the  experiment 
only  on  a  scale  involving  immeasurable  risks,  the  over- 
whelming judgment  has  been  that  they  were  out  of  the 
question.  Here,  however,  our  amateurs  and  empirics  are 
in  hot  haste  to  make  the  experiments,  without  any  coinage 
convention,  or  with  the  cooperation  of  only  a  few  and  the 
less  important  nations,  that  is  to  say  under  circumstances 
which  even  the  most  extreme  bimetallists  condemn  as 
ruinous. 

It  must  be  observed  then  that  there  lies  back  of  all  this 
popular  discussion  a  scientific  and  technical  question  of 
great  delicacy.  I  might  even  say  that  it  is  a  speculative 
question,  or  a  question  in  speculative  economics,  for  we 
have  no  experience  of  an  international  coinage  union,  or  of 
a  concurrent  circulation,  of  the  metals.  We  have  to  im- 
agine the  state  of  things  proposed  and  reason  a  priori  as 
to  what  must  be  the  result.  There  is  a  postulate  to  all 
these  schemes  which  has  never  been  expressed  and  never 
been  discussed,  but  which  is  assumed  to  be  true.  It  has 
two  different  forms:  (1)  A  concurrent  circulation  of  gold 
and  silver  may  be  established  in  any  country:  (2)  A  con- 
current circulation  of  gold  and  silver  may  be  established 
by  a  coinage  union  of  all  civilized  nations.  These  postu- 
lates, or  we  may  say  this  postulate,  for  the  latter  includes 
the  former,  I  have  now  to  bring  in  question.  If  the  science 
of  money  teaches  that  there  cannot  be  a  concurrent  cir- 
culation of  the  metals,  then  the  schemes  which  I  have  re- 


CIRCULATION  OF  GOLD  AND  SILVER  185 

f erred  to  are  all  condemned.  The  question,  moreover,  has 
won  such  an  immediate  and  practical  significance  in  the 
country  that  it  is  no  longer  a  subject  for  academical  dis- 
cussion amongst  economists,  about  whom  opinions  may 
differ  without  importance. 

The  Senate  of  the  United  States  has  just  passed  a  bill 
containing  the  following  provision: 

*'Sec.  2.  That  immediately  after  the  passage  of  this  act 
the  President  shall  invite  the  governments  of  the  countries 
composing  the  Latin  Union,  so  called,  and  of  such  other 
European  nations  as  he  may  deem  advisable,  to  join  the 
United  States  in  a  conference  to  adopt  a  common  ratio  be- 
tween gold  and  silver  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  in- 
ternationally the  use  of  bimetallic  money  and  securing  a 
fixity  of  the  relative  value  between  those  metals;  such 
conference  to  be  held  at  such  a  place  in  Europe  or  in  the 
United  States  at  such  a  time  within  six  months  as  may  be 
mutually  agreed  upon  by  the  executives  of  the  governments 
joining  in  the  same.  Whenever  the  governments  so  in- 
vited, or  any  three  of  them,  shall  have  signified  their  willing- 
ness to  unite  in  the  same,  the  President  shall,  by  and  with 
the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate,  appoint  three  com- 
missioners who  shall  attend  such  conference  on  behalf  of 
the  United  States,  and  shall  report  the  doings  thereof  to 
the  President,  who  shall  transmit  the  same  to  Congress." 

The  conception  which  governed  this  legislation  is  plain 
enough.  It  proposes  to  secure  a  concurrent  circulation  of 
the  two  metals  at  a  fixed  ratio  by  an  international  agree- 
ment. The  proposition  is  to  put  the  experiment  at  work 
when  only  three  nations  besides  ourselves  consent  and  in 
the  meantime  to  remonetize  silver  here  at  sixteen  to  one 
when  the  market  ratio  is  seventeen  and  one-half  to  one. 
This  adds  to  the  absurdity  of  the  bill,  but  has  no 
bearing  on  my  present  controversy.  I  challenge  the 
postulate   which   is   assumed,   which   has   never  been    dis- 


186     THE  FORGOTTEN   MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

cussed,  much  less  proved,  that  a  concurrent  circulation 
is  possible  if  an  international  union  can  be  made.  Any- 
body who  concedes  this  concedes,  as  I  view  it,  the 
fundamental  and  controlling  error  in  the  silver  craze.  If 
this  premise  is  conceded,  there  can  be  no  further  contro- 
versy on  the  arena  of  science.  It  remains  only  to  try  to 
overcome  practical  difficulties.  Such  is  the  issue  I  raise 
with  those  who,  under  any  reservations  whatsoever,  con- 
cede that  a  concurrent  circulation  is  possible.  In  a  body 
of  scientific  gentlemen  I  need  only  refer  to  the  mischief 
done  in  science  by  assuming  the  truth  of  postulates  with- 
out examination,  and  I  need  make  no  apology  for  bringing 
forward  with  all  possible  force  and  vigor  a  controversy  on 
a  point  so  essential.  It  is  my  duty  to  say  that  I  may  be  in 
error,  and  I  have  the  misfortune  to  differ  here  with  gentle- 
men from  whom  I  dissent  seldom  and  unwillingly,  but  it 
will  not  be  denied  that,  while  there  is  controversy  on  a 
point  so  essential,  and  at  a  moment  when  practical  meas- 
ures of  high  importance  to  every  person  in  this  country 
are  proposed,  based  on  certain  views  of  the  matter,  I  am 
right  in  promoting  discussion.  I  wish  to  be  understood  as 
paying  full  respect  to  everybody,  but  I  address  myself, 
without  compliments,  to  the  question  in  hand.  I  shall  be 
satisfied  if  I  make  it  appear  that  I  have  some  strong  grounds 
for  the  position  I  take  in  a  long,  careful,  and  mature  study 
of  this  question  in  all  its  bearings. 

It  will  economize  time  and  space,  if,  before  entering  on 
my  subject,  I  try  to  clear  up  two  points:  (1)  what  is  an 
economic  force  or  an  economic  law,  and  how  ought  we  to 
go  about  the  study  of  economic  phenomena.'^  (2)  What  is 
a  legal  tender? 

(1)  What  should  be  our  conception  of  an  economic 
force  or  an  economic  law,  and  how  ought  we  to  study 
economic  phenomena?  Some  people  seem  to  think  that 
economic  phenomena  constitute  a  domain  of  arbitrary  and 


CIRCULATION  OF   GOLD  AND  SILVER  187 

artificial  action.  They  think  that  social  phenomena  of 
every  kind  are  subject  to  chance  or  to  control.  They  see 
no  sequence  between  incidents  of  this  kind.  They  have 
no  conception  of  social  forces.  They  think  economic  laws 
are  only  formulae  established  by  grouping  a  certain  num- 
ber of  facts  together,  like  a  rule  in  grammar,  and  they  are 
prepared  for  a  list  of  exceptions  to  follow.  This  concep- 
tion, in  its  grosser  forms,  is  now  banished  from  the  science, 
but  it  still  has  strong  hold  on  popular  opinion.  It  also 
still  colors  a  great  many  scientific  discussions,  those,  namely, 
who  seek  to  carry  forward  the  science  by  following  out  the 
complicated  cases  produced  by  the  combined  action  of 
economic  forces  in  our  modern  industrial  life,  and  describ- 
ing them  in  detail.  In  my  opinion  such  efforts  are  all 
mistaken. 

I  regard  economic  forces  as  simply  parallel  to  physical 
forces,  arising  just  as  spontaneously  and  naturally,  follow- 
ing a  sequence  of  cause  and  effect  just  as  inevitably  as 
physical  forces  —  neither  more  nor  less.  The  perturba- 
tions and  complications  which  present  themselves  in  social 
phenomena  are  strictly  analogous  to  those  which  appear  in 
physical  phenomena.  The  social  order  is,  to  my  mind, 
the  product  of  social  forces  tending  always  towards  an 
equilibrium  at  some  ideal  point,  which  point  is  continually 
changing  under  the  ever-changing  amount  or  velocity  of  the 
forces  or  under  their  new  combinations.  Consequently,  I 
do  not  believe  that  the  advance  of  economic  science  depends 
upon  fuller  and  more  minute  description  of  complicated 
social  phenomena  as  they  present  themselves  in  experience, 
but  on  a  stricter  analysis  of  them  in  order  to  get  a  closer 
and  clearer  knowledge  of  the  laws  by  which  the  forces  pro- 
ducing them  operate.  If  this  can  be  attained,  all  the  com- 
plications which  arise  from  their  combined  action  will  be 
easily  solved.  Of  course  we  have  peculiar  difficulties  to 
contend   with,  inasmuch  as  we   cannot   constitute  experi- 


188    THE  FORGOTTEN   MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

ments,  and  it  is  necessary  to  rely  largely  upon  historical 
cases  which  present  now  one  and  now  another  force  or  set 
of  forces  in  peculiar  prominence.  The  facts  which  show 
the  difficulty  of  the  task,  however,  have  nothing  to  do 
with  its  nature. 

According  to  this  view  of  the  matter  there  is  no  more 
reason  to  be  satisfied  with  generalities  in  economics  than 
in  physics.  Some  writers  on  economic  subjects,  who 
pride  themselves  upon  scientific  reluctance,  remind  me  of 
Mr.  Brooks,  in  "Middlemarch."  They  believe  in  things 
up  to  a  certain  point,  and  are  always  afraid  of  going  too 
far.  They  would  be  careful  about  the  multiplication  table, 
and  not  bear  down  too  hard  on  the  rule  of  three.  They 
do  not  discriminate  between  care  in  the  application  of  rules, 
and  confidence  in  scientific  results;  or  between  harshness 
in  personal  relations  and  firm  convictions  in  science.  The 
more  we  come  to  understand  economic  science  the  more 
clear  it  is  that  we  are  dealing  with  only  another  presentation 
of  matter  and  force,  that  is  to  say,  with  quantity  and  law, 
so  that  we  have  mathematical  relations,  and  have  every 
encouragement  to  severity  and  exactitude  in  our  methods. 
When,  therefore,  it  is  said  that  the  economists  do  not  pay 
sufficient  heed  to  the  power  of  legislation,  that  is  no  stop- 
ping place  for  the  argument  any  more  than  it  would  be  in 
physics  to  say  that  sufficient  heed  was  not  paid  to  friction. 
The  question  would  then  arise:  What  is  the  force  of  legis- 
lation .f*  Let  us  study  it,  just  as  we  would  go  on  to  study 
friction  in  mechanics.  When  it  is  loosely  said  (as  if  that 
dismissed  the  subject)  that  men  have  passions  and  emo- 
tions and  do  not  act  by  rule,  the  objection  is  not  pertinent 
at  all.  It  is  connected  with  another  wide  and  common, 
but  very  erroneous  notion,  that  economic  laws  involve 
some  stress  of  obligation  on  men  to  do  or  abstain  from 
doing  certain  things.  I  suppose  this  notion  arises  from  the 
classification    of    political    economy    amongst    the    moral 


CIRCULATION  OF  GOLD  AND  SILVER  189 

sciences     Economic  laws  only  declare  relations  of  cause  and 
effect  which  will  follow,  if  set  in  motion.     Wiether  a  man 
sets  the  sequence  in  motion  at  all  or  not,  and  if  he  does  so, 
whether  he  does  it  from  passion  or  habit  or  upon  reaection 
is  immaterial.     Such  is  the  case,  as  I  understand  it,  wnth 
all  sciences.     They  simply  instruct  men  as  to  the  laws  of 
this  world  in  which  we  live  that  they  may  know  what  to 
expect  it  they  take  one  course  or  another,  or  they  instruct 
men  so  that  they  may  understand  the  relations  of  phe- 
nomena of  forces  beyond  our  control  so  that  we  may  fore- 
see and  guard  ourselves  against  harm.     It  follow-s  from  all 
this  that  I  demand  and  aim  at  just  as  close  thinking  in 
political  economy  as  in  any  other  science.     I  thmk  we  must 
trv  to  get  as  firm  hold  of  principles  and  fundamental  laws 
as  we  can,  and  that,  especially  in  the  face  of  speculative 
propositions,  we  ought  to  cling  to  and  trust  the  firmly  es- 
tablished laws  of  the  science. 

(o)  As  to  legal  tender,  it  seems  to  me  that  the  public 
mind  has  been  sadly  confused  under  the  regime  of  paper 
money.     Money  is  any  commodity  which  is  set  apart  by 
comnfon  consent  to  serve  as  a  medium  of  exchange.     If 
it  is  a  commodity,  it  will  exchange  by  the  laws  of  value, 
and  will  therefore  serve  to  measure  value.     It  must  there- 
fore be  a  commodity,  an  object  of  desire  requiring  onerous 
exertion  to  get  it.     In  theory,  it  may  be  any  commodity. 
The  question  as  to  what  commodity  is  a  question  ot  con- 
venience -  that  one  which  will  answer  the  purpose  best. 
Through  a  long  period  ot  experiments  we  have  come  to  use 
gold  or  silver,  simply  because  we  found  them  the  best^ 
Convenience  here  gave  rise  to  custom,  and  money  of  go  d 
or  silver  owes  its  existence  to  custom  entirely,  and  not  to 
law  at  all.    Law  has  only  in  very  few  inst^vnces  even  se- 
lected that  one  of  the  two  metals  which  should  be  used. 
Even  that  has  come  about  through  custom     Law,  there- 
fore  here  as  elsewhere  where  it  has  been  beneficent  and 


190    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

not  arbitrary,  has  followed  custom,  recognized  it,  rati- 
fied it,  and  given  it  sanctions.  (1)  A  legal  tender  law, 
therefore,  where  customary  money  is  used,  simply  declares 
that  the  parties  to  a  contract  shall  not  vex  each  other  by 
arbitrarily  departing  from  the  custom.  The  creditor  shall 
not  demand,  and  the  debtor  shall  not  offer,  out  of  spite 
or  malice,  anything  but  the  customary  money  of  the  na- 
tion. Such  a  legal  tender  law  has  no  significance  whatever. 
No  one  thinks  of  it  or  speaks  of  it  or  takes  it  into  account, 
unless  he  be  one  of  those  whose  idle  malice  it  prevents. 

(2)  A  legal  tender  law  is  used  where  a  subsidiary  token 
currency  is  employed  as  a  part  of  the  system,  to  prevent 
debtors  from  using  it  in  payment,  and  to  prevent  the  system 
from  bringing  about  a  depreciation  of  the  money.  In  this 
case  it  is  part  of  the  device  for  using  a  token  currency,  and 
is  open  to  no  objection.  It  would  check  the  debtor  when 
he  meant  to  perpetrate  a  wrong.  It  would  not  enable 
him  to  do  one. 

(3)  A  legal  tender  law  has  been  used  very  often,  how- 
ever, to  give  forced  circulation  to  a  depreciated  currency 
of  little  or  no  value  as  a  commodity.  In  that  case  the  legal 
tender  act  enables  the  debtor  to  discharge  his  obligations 
with  less  commodities  than  he  and  the  creditor  understood 
and  expected  when  the  contract  was  made.  If  the  creditor 
appeals  to  the  courts,  they  are  obliged  to  rule  that  the 
debtor  has  discharged  his  obligation,  when  he  has  not, 
and  they  give  the  creditor  no  relief.  Hence  it  appears 
that  a  legal  tender  act  giving  forced  circulation  to  depre- 
ciated currency  amounts  simply  to  this:  it  withdraws  the 
protection  of  the  courts  from  one  party  to  a  contract,  and 
leaves  him  at  the  mercy  of  the  other  party  to  the  extent 
of  the  depreciation  of  the  currency.  Obviously  no  other 
act  of  legislation  more  completely  reverses  the  whole 
proper  object  of  legislation,  or  more  thoroughly  subverts 
civil  order.     The  English  passed  two  or  three  acts  of  this 


CIRCULATION  OF  GOLD  AND  SILVER  191 

nature,  although  they  were  not  specifically  acts  for  making 
banknotes  legal  tender,  during  the  bank  suspension  at  the 
beginning  of  this  century.  It  would  have  been  interesting 
to  see  what  English  courts  would  have  made  of  an  act 
which  reversed  the  whole  spirit  of  English  law  by  diminish- 
ing the  rights  of  one  party  under  a  contract,  and  which 
made  the  courts  an  instrument  for  his  oppression  instead 
of  an  institution  to  provide  a  remedy,  but  no  case  came  up. 
The  twelve  judges  on  appeal  overturned  the  sentence  of  a 
man  convicted  of  buying  and  selling  gold  at  a  premium. 
Some  few  persons  demanded  and  obtained  gold  payments 
throughout  the  suspension  but  the  paper  circulation  was 
really  sustained  by  public  opinion  and  consent,  it  being 
believed  that  the  bank  suspension  was  necessary.  This 
form  of  legal  tender,  therefore,  is  totally  different  from 
that  first  described.  I  call  it,  for  the  sake  of  discrimina- 
tion, a  forced  circulation.  When  a  legal  tender  act  giving 
forced  circulation  to  a  depreciated  currency  is  first  passed, 
if  it  applies  to  existing  contracts  it  transfers  a  percentage 
of  all  capital  engaged  in  credit  operations  from  the  creditor 
to  the  debtor.  In  its  subsequent  action  it  subjects  either 
party  to  the  fluctuations  which  may  occur  in  the  forced 
circulation,  robbing  first  one  and  then  another.  Hence 
the  debtor  interest  is  that  the  depreciation  once  begun 
shall  go  on  steadily,  because  any  recovery  would  rob 
debtors  as  creditors  were  robbed  in  the  first  place. 

Having  disposed  of  these  two  points  I  now  take  up  the 
question  I  proposed  at  the  outset:  Is  a  concurrent  circula- 
tion of  gold  and  silver  possible  under  an  international 
coinage  union? 

Here  we  have  to  make  a  radical  distinction  between  two 
different  propositions  for  an  international  coinage  union. 
The  first  is  that  of  M.  Wolowski.  He  pointed  to  the  com- 
paratively small  fluctuations  of  the  precious  metals  and  to 
the  effect  which  France  had  exerted  by  the  double  standard. 


192    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

and  inferred  that  if  all  civilized  nations  would  join  France 
in  her  system  they  might  arrest  the  fall  of  either  metal 
before  it  became  important.  If  the  coinage  union  fixed 
upon  a  ratio  of  one  to  fifteen  and  one-half,  then,  if  silver  fell 
all  would  use  silver,  which  would  arrest  its  fall.  If  gold 
should  fall,  all  would  use  gold.  As  the  metal  in  use  would 
always  be  the  one  which  was  cheaper  than  the  legal  ratio, 
the  other  would  be  above  it,  if  I  may  so  express  it.  Hence 
neither  would  be  permanently  demonetized,  because  neither 
could  fall  so  low  as  to  go  out  of  use.  Only  one  would  be 
used  at  a  time  but  the  other  would  be  within  reach,  and  if 
either  should  rise  relatively  to  commodities,  debtors  would 
not  suffer  but  might  even  be  benefited  by  being  enabled 
to  turn  to  the  falling  metal.  This  system  would  require  of 
the  law  nothing  except  to  prescribe  that  the  mint  should 
coin  either  metal  indifferently  which  people  might  bring, 
silver  coins  being  made  fifteen  and  one-half  times  as  heavy 
as  gold  coins  of  the  same  denomination,  both  being  of  the 
same  fineness.  This  is  Wolowski's  plan,  and  these  are  the 
advantages  he  expected  from  it.  He  thought  that  it 
would  hold  the  alternative  open  between  the  two  metals. 
He  feared  that  silver,  if  universally  demonetized,  would 
fall  so  low  as  to  go  out  of  use  entirely  for  money.  He 
thought  that  France  and,  later,  the  Latin  Union  ought  not 
to  bear  alone  the  cost  of  keeping  up  the  value  of  silver. 
He  thought  the  debtor  ought  not  to  be  oppressed  by  being 
forced  to  rely  on  one  metal  alone  which  might  rise  relatively 
to  commodities.  He  did  not  propose  to  give  the  debtor 
the  use  of  the  whole  mass  of  both  metals  at  the  same  time. 
Indeed  that  arrangement  would  defeat  Wolowski's  purpose, 
for  if  the  whole  mass  of  both  metals  could  be  brought  into 
use  at  once  prices  would  rise.  Those  who  are  indebted 
now  would  win,  but  when  prices  and  credit  had  adjusted 
themselves  to  the  bimetallic  money  the  effect  would  be 
exhausted.    Debts  contracted  after  that  would  be  relatively 


CIRCULATION  OF  GOLD  AND   SILVER  193 

just  as  heavy  to  pay  as  they  are  now,  and  if  the  precious 
metals  taken  together  rose  relatively  to  commodities, 
debtors  would  have  no  recourse  to  anything  else.  Now 
this  chance  of  recourse,  when  the  standard  of  value  rose, 
was  just  what  Wolowski  wanted.  His  language  is  very 
guarded  and  scientific.  He  never  went  further  than  to 
say  that  his  scheme  would  restrain  and  limit  the  fluctua- 
tions of  the  metals  —  how  far  he  did  not  know  and  did  not 
pretend  to  say.  He  thought  the  fluctuations  would  be  so 
narrow  that  the  transition  from  one  metal  to  the  other 
would  be  a  relief  to  debtors  without  any  appreciable  in- 
justice to  creditors.  All  this  is  very  clear  and  very  sensible. 
On  theory  it  is  open  to  no  radical  objection.  The  discus- 
sion of  it  turns  upon  considerations  of  practicability  and 
expediency.  It  is  much  to  be  wished  that  this  plan  should 
be  called  by  its  proper  name:  the  alternative  standard, 
or,  better  still,  the  alternate  standard.  It  counts  among 
its  adherents  a  number  of  strong  men,  and  many  others 
have  signified  assent  to  it  on  theoretical  grounds. 

The  term  "bimetallism"  ought  to  be  restricted  to 
another  theory  of  which  Cernuschi  is  the  advocate, 
which  has  for  its  purpose  to  unite  the  two  metals  at  once 
in  the  circulation  and  give  debtors  the  whole  mass  of  both 
metals  as  a  means  of  payment.  Cernuschi  believes  that 
the  international  coinage  union  could  arrest  the  fluctua- 
tions of  the  metals  entirely;  or  that  there  is  some  narrow 
limit  of  fluctuation  within  which  both  would  remain  in 
use,  and  that  the  coinage  union  could  hold  the  value- 
fluctuations  of  the  metals  within  these  limits.  The  Ameri- 
can schemes  are  numerous  and  so  crude  that  it  is  diflScult 
to  analyze  or  classify  them.  They  are  also  of  many  dif- 
ferent grades.  They  all,  however,  seem  to  have  this  in 
common,  that  they  want  to  secure  to  the  debtor  the  use 
of  both  metals  at  once,  and  that  they  aim  at  a  concurrent 
circulation.     They  must,   therefore,   be   classed   under  bi- 


194     THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

metallism.  These  schemes  all  involve  not  simply  what 
Wolowski  said  —  that  legislation  and  union  could  limit  the 
fluctuations  —  but  the  proposers  know  how  much  it  would 
limit  them,  and  they  can  control  the  results.  This  view 
has  very  few  adherents  in  Europe.  It  has  not  been  dis- 
cussed there  save  by  one  or  two  writers.  It  is  passed  by 
in  silence  for  reasons  which  I  shall  soon  show. 

The  opinion  has  been  expressed  that  these  two  proposi- 
tions differ  only  in  degree.  From  this  opinion  I  must  ex- 
press my  earnest  dissent.  It  is  the  very  cardinal  point  of 
my  present  argument.  Wolowski's  alternate  standard  seems 
to  me  to  rest  upon  the  belief  that  legislation  of  the  kind 
proposed  would  restrict  the  fluctuations  in  value  of  the 
metals.  It  affirms  that  legislation  would  have  a  certain 
tendency.  Any  plan  for  a  concurrent  circulation  giving 
debtors  the  use  of  the  whole  mass  of  both  metals  pretends 
to  say  how  far  the  tendency  would  go  and  what  its  results 
would  be.  To  my  mind  the  difference  between  those  two 
propositions  is  that  between  a  scientific  and  an  unscientific 
proposition.  We  have  a  parallel  case  before  us.  Some 
say  re-monetization  would  cause  an  advance  in  silver. 
Others  say  re-monetization  would  make  a  four  hundred  and 
twelve  and  one-half  grain  silver  dollar  equal  in  value  to  a 
gold  one.  Are  those  two  propositions  the  same  save  in 
degree.'^  It  seems  to  me  that  only  a  very  superficial 
consideration  of  them  could  so  declare.  Obviously  they 
differ  in  quality  more  than  in  degree.  The  former  of 
these  propositions  is  not  false  in  principle;  the  question 
in  regard  to  it  must  be  decided  by  circumstances.  The 
second  is  false  and  erroneous  from  beginning  to  end, 
and  would  be  false  even  if  temporarily  and  by  force  of 
circumstances  the  silver  dollar  should  become  equal  to 
the  gold  dollar,  because  it  rests,  like  the  old  doctrine  that 
nature  abhors  a  vacuum,  upon  false  views  of  all  the  forces 
involved.    Just  so  with  regard  to  a  concurrent  circulation  or 


CIRCULATION  OF  GOLD  AND  SILVER  195 

bimetallism  as  compared  with  the  alternate  standard. 
The  latter  predicts  tendencies  to  arise  from  the  play  of 
certain  forces.  Those  tendencies  are  the  true  effect  of 
those  forces.  The  question  may  be  raised  whether  the 
means  proposed  would  bring  those  forces  into  action, 
whether  they  would  be  as  great  as  is  expected,  whether 
they  would  be  counteracted  by  others,  but  there  is  no 
error  as  to  the  nature  and  operation  of  economic  forces. 
Bimetallism  predicts  results,  not  tendencies.  It  assumes 
to  measure  the  consequences  and  say  what  will  result  as 
a  permanent  state  of  things.  It  therefore  involves  the 
doctrine  that  legislation  can  control  natural  forces  for 
definite  results.  If  legislation  cannot  so  control  natural 
forces,  then  we  cannot  secure  a  concurrent  circulation, 
giving  the  debtor  the  use  of  the  whole  mass  of  both  metals 
with  which  to  pay  his  debts.  At  a  time  like  this,  when  the 
silver  craze  seems  to  be  asserting  itself  as  a  mania,  by 
sweeping  away  some  who  ought  to  be  most  staunch  in  their 
adherence  to  economic  laws  and  most  clear  in  their  percep- 
tion of  economic  truths,  I  may  be  pardoned  for  insisting 
most  strenuously  upon  this  distinction  and  upon  its  im- 
portance. Many  of  the  American  writers  have  been  be- 
trayed into  error  by  not  having  examined  these  two  plans 
and  discriminated  between  them  with  suflScient  care.  It 
is  very  common  to  see  arguments  based  upon  the  alternate 
standard  and  inferences  drawn  as  to  bimetallism  which 
are  entirely  fallacious  because  they  cross  the  gulf  between 
the  two  theories  without  recognizing  it.  Bimetallism  is  so 
plainly  opposed  to  fundamental  doctrines  of  political 
economy  that  few  European  economists  have  felt  called 
upon  to  discuss  it.  Here  the  case  is  different,  and  the  more 
ground  it  wins,  and  the  more  danger  there  is  that  it  will 
affect  legislation,  the  more  urgent  is  the  necessity  to  resist 
every  form  of  it. 

Now  my  proposition  is  that   a   concurrent   circulation. 


196     THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND   OTHER  ESSAYS 

that  is  a  permanent  union  of  the  two  metals  in  the  coinage, 
so  that  the  debtor  can  use  both  or  either,  is  impossible. 
Permanent  stability  of  the  metals  in  the  coinage,  whether 
with  or  without  an  international  coinage  union,  is  just  as 
impossible  in  economics  as  perpetual  motion  is  in  physics. 
Against  perpetual  motion  the  physicist  sets  a  broad  and 
complete  negation,  because  action  and  reaction  are  equal. 
He  does  not  care  what  the  principle  may  be  on  which  any 
one  may  try  to  construct  perpetual  motion.  If  any  one 
brings  to  him  a  perpetual  motion  perhaps  he  will  spend 
time  to  examine  and  analyze  it  and  show  how  it  contra- 
venes the  great  law  of  motion.  I  claim  that  a  concurrent 
circulation  is  impossible  on  any  scheme  or  under  any  cir- 
cumstances because  it  contravenes  the  law  of  value.  Value 
fluctuates  under  supply  and  demand  at  a  limit  fixed  by 
what  Cairnes  calls  cost  of  production,  or  Jevons  calls  the 
final  increment  of  utility,  or  Walras  calls  scarcity,  all  of 
which  on  analysis  will  be  found  to  be  the  same  thing. 
Bimetallism  affirms  that,  under  legislation,  although  sup- 
ply and  demand  may  vary,  value  shall  not.  In  order  to 
test  this  let  us  next  examine  the  influence  of  legislation  on 
value. 

The  cases  in  which  legislation  acts  on  value  are  all  cases 
of  monopoly.  Such  is  the  case  with  token  money;  such  is 
the  case  with  irredeemable  paper.  As  with  every  other 
monopoly,  the  successful  manipulation  of  these  monop- 
olies consists  in  controlling  supply,  to  fit  the  supply  to  the 
demand  at  the  price  which  the  monopolist  wants  to  get. 
The  history  of  every  monopoly  shows  the  great  difficulty, 
I  might  say,  in  the  long  run,  the  impossibility,  of  doing 
this.  The  bimetallists  propose  not  to  act  on  the  supply, 
and  so  create  a  monopoly,  but  to  act  upon  the  demand. 
This  is  a  new  exercise  of  legislation,  different  from  any 
yet  tried,  and  not  guaranteed  by  any  experience.  Now  to 
act  upon  the  demand  is,  in  the  phrase  of  the  stock  brokers. 


CIRCULATION  OF  GOLD  AND  SILVER  197 

to  make  a  corner,  that  is  to  buy  all  that  is  offered  at  a  price. 
Stock  gamblers  do  this  so  as  to  sell  out  again  at  an  advance 
to  those  who  are  forced  to  buy.     If  there  are  none  who  are 
forced  to  buy,  then  those  who  bought  above  the  market 
have  lost  their  capital.     The  propositions  of  the  advocates 
of  the  alternate  standard  and  of  bimetallism  are  alike  in 
proposing  that  all  civilized  nations  shall  combine  to  make 
a  corner  on  the  falling  metal.     Whether  that  is  a  worthy 
undertaking  or  not  I  will  not  stop  to  inquire.     It  is  evident 
that  the  nations  of  the  coinage  union  would  have  no  one  on 
whom  to  unload  after  they  had  bought,  and  that  there  would 
be  an  inevitable  loss  and  waste  of  capital  in  the  transaction. 
This,  however,  is  not  all.     A  corner  is  effective  or  not  ac- 
cording to  its  scope.     It  must  embrace  the  whole  object  to 
be  raised  in  price,  and  above  all  it  must  act  upon  a  limited 
amount  which  is  not  fed  from  any  new  source  of  supply. 
A  corner  on  the  precious  metals  is  not  to  be  made  effective 
even  by  a  combination  of   all  civilized  nations.     In   my 
opinion  there  is  a  grand  fallacy  in  the  notion  that  a  coinage 
union  would  do  what  France  did,  only  on  a  larger  scale. 
Wolowski  saw  France,   lying  between  Germany,   a  silver 
nation,  and  England,  a  gold  nation,  carry  out  the  com- 
pensatory operation,  and  he  inferred  that  all  nations  could 
agree  to  do  the  same,  more  widely,  more  easily,  and  with 
wider  distribution  of  the  loss.     It  seems  to  me  that  there 
was  an  action  and  reaction  here  between  members  of  the 
group  of  nations  which  one  can  easily  understand,  but  that 
if  all  nations  joined  in  the  system,  the  alternation  would 
not  work  at  all  for  want  of  a  point  of  reaction.     If  all  na- 
tions agreed  to  join  the  corner  on  the  falling  metal,  they 
could  not  all  bring  their  new  demand  to  bear  on  the  new « 
supply  at  the  same  time.     As  the  mines  are  limited  and 
local,  a  new  supply  would  touch  the  market  only  at  one 
point.     Hence  the  coinage  union  implies  no  aggregation  of 
force  at  all.     Make  the  union  embrace  the  whole  world. 


198    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

and  the  effect  is  just  the  same  as  if  there  were  none  at 
all,  the  matter  standing  simply  on  the  natural  laws  for 
the  distribution  of  the  precious  metals.  Control  of  demand 
by  a  corner  or  of  supply  by  a  monopoly  acts  more  efficiently 
the  smaller  and  closer  the  market  is,  and,  conversely,  the 
larger  and  wider  the  transaction,  the  less  the  eflSciency. 
Furthermore,  a  corner  to  succeed  must  make  sure  that 
there  is  no  source  of  supply,  and  that  it  has  to  deal  only 
with  an  amount  which  can  be  computed.  The  gold  corner 
on  Black  Friday,  1869,  was  ruined  when  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury  ordered  sales  of  gold.  A  monopoly  in  like 
manner,  must  be  able  to  count  on  steady  and  uniform  de- 
mand. The  coal  combination  failed  when  the  hard  times 
suddenly  contracted  the  demand  for  coal.  Hence  the 
movement  towards  a  wider  market,  embracing  a  larger 
quantity,  is  always  a  movement  towards  less,  and  not 
towards  greater  control  by  artificial  expedients. 

Applying  these  observations  to  the  matter  before  us,  I 
have  to  say  (1)  that  I  consider  the  inference  that  a  coinage 
union  would  do  what  France  did  under  the  double  standard, 
only  more  surely  and  efficiently,  quite  mistaken;  (2)  as  to 
the  alternate  standard,  I  do  not  believe  that  the  alterna- 
tion would  work  on  a  worldwide  scale  at  all.  I  regard  its 
operation  in  France  as  fully  accounted  for  by  the  relations 
of  the  three  countries,  England,  France,  and  Germany; 
(3)  as  to  bimetallism,  the  coinage  union,  instead  of  gaining 
more  stringent  control  to  counteract  and  nullify  the  effect 
of  changes  in  supply  of  either  metal,  would  have  less  effect 
in  that  direction  the  larger  it  was. 

Having  thus  examined  the  nature  of  artificial  interfer- 
ences with  value,  and  their  limitations,  I  return  to  my 
proposition  that  to  establish  a  concurrent  circulation  is 
just  as  impossible  as  to  square  the  circle  or  to  invent  per- 
petual motion.  No  doubt  it  is  difficult,  perhaps  impossible, 
to  make  a  demonstration  of  a  negative  proposition  like 


CIRCULATION  OF  GOLD  AND   SILVER  199 

this.  The  burden  of  proof  lies  upon  those  who  bring  for- 
ward attempts  to  solve  the  problem,  and  I  can  justly  be 
held  only  to  examine  and  refute  such  attempts.  No  proof 
has  ever  been  offered  by  any  of  the  persons  in  question. 
No  one  of  them  has  attempted  as  much  of  an  analysis  of 
the  effect  of  artificial  expedients  on  value  as  the  one  I 
have  just  offered.  No  one  of  them  has  attempted  to  an- 
alyze the  operation  of  the  proposed  coinage  union,  to  show 
how  or  why  they  expect  it  to  act  as  they  say.  They  pass 
over  this  assumption  as  lightly  as  our  popular  advocates 
of  silver  assume  that  re-monetization  would  put  an  end  to 
the  hard  times.  They  content  themselves  with  analogies, 
or  with  loose  and  general  guesses  that  such  and  such  things 
would  result  from  a  coinage  union.  We  all  know  what 
dangers  lurk  in  the  argument  from  analogy.  The  further 
you  follow  it  the  further  you  are  from  the  point.  An  an- 
alogy has  no  proper  use  save  to  set  in  clearer  light  an  opin- 
ion or  a  proposition  which  must  rest  for  its  merits  on  an 
appropriate  demonstration.  Thus  the  attempt  has  been 
made  to  illustrate  the  power  of  governments  to  control 
the  fluctuations  of  the  metals  by  the  analogy  of  a  man 
driving  two  horses.  It  is  said  that  this  is  "controlling 
natural  forces  for  definite  results,"  and  it  is  asked,  "if  one 
man  in  his  sphere  can  do  this,  why  may  not  the  collective 
might  of  the  nation  do  this  in  its  sphere?"  My  answer  is 
that  it  is  in  the  sphere  of  man  to  tame  horses,  but  it  is  not 
in  the  sphere  of  nations  to  control  value,  and  therefore 
the  analogy  is  radically  false.  I  cannot  be  held  to  argue 
both  sides  of  the  question.  I  am  not  bound  to  put  all  the 
cases  of  the  adversaries  into  proper  shape  for  discussion 
and  then  to  refute  them.  I  plant  myself  squarely  upon 
the  fundamental  principles  of  the  science  of  which  I  am  a 
student  and  deny  that  any  concurrent  circulation  is  possible 
except  under  temporary  and  accidental  circumstances,  be- 
cause it  involves  the  proposition  that  legislation  can  control 


200    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

value  to  bring  about  desired  results.  A  concurrent  circula- 
tion must  mean  one  which  is  concurrent,  and  if  it  is  to 
offer  debtors  the  whole  mass  of  both  metals  to  pay  their 
debts  with,  it  must  be  permanent.  If  both  metals  should  be 
used  for  a  time  until  prices  and  contracts  were  adjusted  to 
them,  and  then  one  should  rise  so  much  as  to  go  out  of  use, 
the  consequences  would  be  disastrous  to  debtors  beyond 
anything  now  apprehended. 

I  proceed  then  to  criticize  the  notions  of  a  concurrent 
circulation,  as  to  their  common  features.  The  error  with 
them  all  is  that  they  try  to  corner  commodities  the  supply 
of  which  is  beyond  their  control  or  knowledge.  That  is  a 
fatal  error  in  any  corner,  as  I  have  already  shown.  If  it 
were  proposed  that  each  nation  should  have  a  certain 
amount  of  circulation,  composed  of  the  two  metals  in  equal 
parts,  and  then  that  the  circulation  should  be  closed,  then 
the  corner  might  work  and  there  would  be  some  sense  in 
it.  Suppose  that  a  nation  had  two  hundred  millions  of 
fixed  circulation,  half  gold  and  half  silver,  and  that  this 
sum  was  not  in  excess  of  its  requirement  for  money.  Then 
I  do  not  see  how  either  half  of  the  coinage  should  fall  rela- 
tively to  the  other;  but  if  silver  did  fall,  every  dollar  of  silver 
which  was  sought  would  involve  the  relinquishment  of  a 
dollar  in  gold  and  this  exchange  would  act  on  equal  and 
limited  amounts  of  each  metal.  It  would  then  depress 
one  metal  and  raise  the  other  to  an  exactly  equal  degree. 
The  balance  might,  in  that  case,  be  retained.  The  hy- 
pothesis of  a  closed  circulation  is,  however,  preposterous. 
No  one  thinks  of  it. 

The  plan  of  a  concurrent  circulation  with  a  free  mint 
strikes,  upon  close  examination,  at  every  step,  against  diffi- 
culties of  that  sort  which  warn  a  scientific  man  that  he  is 
dealing  with  an  empirical  and  impossible  delusion.  How  is 
it  to  be  brought  about?  The  movement  towards  a  bime- 
tallic circulation  would  never  begin  unless  the  ratio  of  the 


CIRCULATION  OF  GOLD  AND  SILVER  201 

coinage  was  the  market  ratio.  It  would  not  go  on  unless 
the  mint  ratio  followed  every  fluctuation  of  the  market. 
It  would  not  be  accomplished  unless  the  mint  ratio  at  last 
was  that  of  the  market.  It  would  not  remain  unless  the 
market  ratio  remained  fixed.  But  the  mint  ratio  cannot 
be  changed  from  time  to  time.  If  it  were,  the  result  would 
be  inextricable  confusion  in  the  coins,  driving  us  back  to  the 
use  of  scales  and  weights  with  which  to  treat  the  coins  as 
bullion. 

If  we  pass  over  this  difficulty,  and  suppose,  for  the  sake 
of  argument,  that  the  system  had  been  brought  into  activ- 
ity, the  reasons  why  it  could  not  stand  present  themselves 
in  numbers.  They  all  come  back  to  this,  that  the  supply  is 
beyond  our  knowledge  and  control.  If  the  supply  of  either 
metal  increased,  it  would  overthrow  the  legal  rating  at  the 
point  at  which  it  was  put  into  the  market,  and  would 
destroy  the  equality  there.  Its  effects  would  spread  ac- 
cording to  the  amount  of  the  new  supply  and  the  length  of 
time  it  continued.  The  bimetallists  seem  to  forget  that  an 
increased  demand  counteracts  an  increased  supply  only  by 
absorbing  it  under  a  price  fluctuation.  The  same  error  is 
familiar  in  the  plans  for  perpetual  motion.  Speculations 
to  that  end  often  overlook  the  fact  that  we  cannot  employ 
a  force  in  mechanics  without  providing  an  escapement 
which  is  always  exhausting  the  force  at  our  disposal.  So 
the  bimetallists  seem  to  think  of  their  enhanced  demand 
as  acting  on  value  without  an  actual  action  and  reaction 
which  consist  in  absorbing  supply  under  a  price  fluctua- 
tion. The  new  metal  would  therefore  pass  into  the  circula- 
tion and  would  destroy  the  equilibrium  of  the  metals  in 
the  coinage.  If  this  new  addition  were  only  a  mathe- 
matical increment  it  would  suffice  to  establish  the  prin- 
ciple for  which  I  contend  and  to  overthrow  the  bimetallic 
theory,  for  if  I  see  that  any  force  has  a  certain  effect  I  must 
infer  that  the  same  force  increased  or  continued  would  go 


202     THE  FORGOTTEN   MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

on  to  greater  effects;  and  if  the  final  effect  is  not  reached 
it  is  because  the  force  is  not  suflScient,  not  because  there  is 
an  act  of  the  legislature  in  the  way.  If  then,  silver  entered 
the  circulation,  gold  would  leave  it  and  be  exported,  if  the 
exchanges  allowed  of  any  export,  or  would  be  hoarded  and 
melted.  The  silver-producing  countries  would  therefore 
gravitate  towards  a  silver  circulation  only,  and  other  coun- 
tries towards  a  gold  circulation. 

Here  another  assumption  of  the  bimetallists  is  involved. 
They  assume  that  the  metal  to  be  exported  would  be  the 
one  which  falls.  Thus,  if  all  nations  had  a  bimetallic  cir- 
culation, and  if  the  supply  of  silver  in  the  United  States 
increased,  it  would  be  necessary  that  this  silver  should  be 
proportionately  distributed  among  all  the  nations  in  order 
to  keep  up  the  bimetallic  system.  No  bimetallist  has  ever 
faced  this  question.  They  assume  that  Americans  would 
pay  their  foreign  debts  with  silver  in  that  case,  and  they 
rely  on  the  international  legal  tender  law  to  secure  this. 
This  is  one  of  the  fallacies  of  legal  tender  referred  to  at 
the  outset.  Rates  of  exchange  and  prices  would  at  once 
vary  to  counteract  any  such  operation,  just  as  they  always 
counteract  the  injustice  of  a  forced  circulation  and  throw 
it  back  on  those  who  try  to  perpetrate  it.  It  may  suflBce 
to  put  the  case  this  way.  If  we  had  both  metals  circulating 
together  so  that  a  merchant  obtained  both  in  substantially 
equal  proportions,  and  if  silver  should  fall  ever  so  little  in 
our  markets,  owing  to  increased  production,  and  if  a  foreigner 
were  selling  his  products  here,  intending  to  carry  home  his 
returns  in  metal,  which  metal  would  he  retain  to  carry 
away.f^  Obviously  that  one  which  at  the  time  and  prospec- 
tively had  the  higher  value.  Rates  of  exchange  and  prices 
would  adjust  themselves  so  as  to  bring  about  the  same 
result  through  the  mechanism  of  finance.  This  is  one  of 
the  most  subtle  questions  involved  in  the  general  issue, 
but  it  is  vital  to  the  bimetallic  theory. 


CIRCULATION   OF  GOLD  AND  SILVER  203 

Some  writers  have  satisfied  themselves  with  general 
opinions  —  guesses,  I  am  obliged  to  call  them  —  that  if  the 
fluctuations  were  kept  within  certain  limits  the  concurrent 
circulation  would  stand.  They  probably  rely  on  an  ele- 
ment analogous  to  friction  which  unquestionably  acts  in 
economy  and  finance.  This  element  consists  of  habit,  prej- 
udice, passion,  dislike  of  trouble.  It  acts  with  great  force 
in  retail  trade,  and  in  individual  cases,  and  in  small  trans- 
actions. Its  force  diminishes  as  we  go  upwards  towards  the 
largest  transactions,  where  the  smallest  percentages  give 
very  appreciable  sums.  It  seems  to  me  that  the  bimetallic 
system  reduces  this  friction  to  a  minimum.  If  a  man  has 
to  spend  a  dollar  he  does  not  go  to  a  broker  to  buy  a  trade 
dollar  with  a  greenback  dollar,  and  save  a  cent  or  two,  but 
if  he  has  both  a  gold  dollar  and  a  silver  dollar  in  his  pocket 
(and,  under  the  bimetallic  system,  the  chances  are  that 
when  he  has  two  dollars  he  will  have  one  of  each),  it  needs 
only  the  lightest  shade  of  difference  in  value  to  determine 
him  which  to  give  and  which  to  hold.  A  bank  of  issue, 
holding  equal  amounts  of  the  two  metals  with  which  to 
redeem  its  notes,  would  find  an  appreciable  profit  in  giving 
one  and  holding  the  other,  and  it  would  require  nothing 
but  a  word  of  command  to  the  proper  oflScer,  involving  no 
ri«k  at  all.  Hence  I  say  this  friction  would  be  reduced  to 
its  minimum  under  the  bimetallic  system.  It  is  astonish- 
ing what  light  margins  of  profit  suflBce  to  produce  financial 
movements  nowadays;  and  the  tendency  is  to  make  the 
movements  turn  on  smaller  and  smaller  margins.  Five 
in  the  thousand  above  par  carries  gold  out  of  this  country. 
Four  in  the  thousand  carries  it  from  England  to  France. 
When  the  French  suspended  specie  payments  a  depreciation 
of  two  in  the  thousand  on  the  paper  sufiiced  to  throw  gold 
out  of  circulation.  A  variation  in  the  ratio  of  metals  from 
15.5:1  to  15.6:  1  is  a  variation  of  six  and  one-half  in  the 
thousand.     I  do  not  see  how  small  a  variation  must  be  in 


204    THE  FORGOTTEN   MAN   AND   OTHER  ESSAYS 

order  to  justify  any  one  in  saying  that  a  bimetallic  circula- 
tion could  exist  in  spite  of  it.  Therefore  it  seems  to  me 
that  the  more  accurately  the  bimetallic  system  was  estab- 
lished the  more  delicate  and  more  easily  overthrown  it 
would  be,  while  if  it  was  not  accurately  established  it 
would  not  come  about  at  all.  I  submit  that  such  a  result 
is  one  of  the  notes  of  an  absurdity  in  any  science. 

An  analogy  has  been  suggested  in  illustration  and  sup- 
port of  the  bimetallic  theory  that  two  vessels  of  water 
connected  by  a  tube  tend  to  preserve  a  level.  I  have  al- 
ready indicated  my  suspicion  of  all  analogies,  but  I  will 
alter  this  one  to  make  it  fit  my  idea  of  bimetallism.  Sup- 
pose two  vessels  capable  of  expansion  and  contraction  to 
a  considerable  degree,  under  the  operation  of  forces  which 
act  entirely  independently  of  each  other,  so  that  the  varia- 
tions in  shape  and  capacity  of  each  may  have  all  conceiv- 
able relations  to  the  corresponding  variations  of  the  other. 
Suppose  further  that  each  is  fed  by  a  stream  of  water,  each 
stream  being  variable  in  its  flow  and  the  variations  of  each 
having  all  possible  relations  to  the  variations  of  the  other. 
The  fluctuations  in  capacity  may  represent  fluctuations  of 
demand,  and  the  fluctuations  of  inflow,  fluctuations  of 
supply.  Would  the  water  in  the  two  vessels  stand  at  the 
same  level  except  temporarily  and  accidentally,  even 
though  the  two  vessels  were  connected  by  a  tube?  The 
analogy  of  the  connecting  tube  could  not  be  admitted  even 
then,  because  it  brings  into  play  the  natural  law  of  the 
equilibrium  of  fluids,  to  which  the  legal  tie  between  the 
metals  is  not  analogous.  If  we  desire  to  make  the  analogy 
approximately  just,  in  this  respect,  we  may  suppose  that 
each  vessel  has  an  outlet  and  that  a  man  is  stationed  to 
open  the  outlet  of  the  vessel  in  which  the  water  is  at  the 
higher  point  so  as  to  try  to  keep  them  both  at  a  level.  It 
is  evident  that  his  utmost  vigilance  would  be  unavailing  to 
secure  the  object  proposed.    I  do  not  borrow  the  analogy 


CIRCULATION  OF  GOLD  AND  SILVER  205 

or  adopt  it.    I  only  show  how  inadequate  it  is,  in  the  form 
proposed. 

There  is  another  group  of  propositions  which  have  many- 
advocates  amongst  us,  of  which  something  ought  to  be 
said  —  propositions  of  those  who  want  to  use  silver  as  a  legal 
tender  at  its  value,  under  some  scheme  or  other.  Some 
want  a  public  declaration,  by  appointed  persons,  from  time 
to  time,  of  the  market  value.  Any  such  plan  would  throw 
on  the  officers  in  question  a  responsibility  which  would  be 
onerous  in  the  extreme,  so  much  so  that  no  one  could  or 
would  discharge  it;  and  it  would  introduce  a  mischievous 
element  of  speculation  into  the  payment  of  all  debts.  It 
is,  besides,  open  to  the  objections  which  may  be  adduced 
against  the  other  plan,  which  is  to  have  either  coins  or  bars 
of  silver,  assayed  and  stamped,  legal  tender  for  debts  at 
the  market  quotation.  Here  we  need  to  remember  the 
definition  of  legal  tender  given  at  the  outset.  If  these  silver 
coins  and  bars  are  convenient  for  the  purpose  they  will 
come  into  use  by  custom  and  consent  at  their  value.  If 
they  really  pass  at  their  market  value,  there  will  be  no  ad- 
vantage to  the  debtor.  One  who  has  silver  and  wants  to 
pay  a  debt  can  do  so  at  its  value  by  selling  the  silver.  In 
this  sense  every  man  who  produces  wheat,  cotton,  iron,  or 
personal  services,  pays  his  debts  with  them  at  their  value. 
One  who  produced  something  else  than  silver  would  have  no 
object  in  selling  it  for  silver,  to  pay  his  debt  with  at  the  value 
of  silver.  He  would  have  the  trouble  of  another  transac- 
tion, he  would  have  to  buy  silver  at  its  selling  price,  and  the 
creditor  to  whom  he  paid  it  would  have  to  sell  it  for  money 
at  the  broker's  buying  price,  with  no  advantage  to  either, 
but  only  to  the  broker.  If  silver  passes  at  its  value,  legal 
tender  has  no  force  for  it;  if  it  is  to  have  forced  circulation 
in  some  way,  it  will  help  the  debtor,  as  all  forced  circulation 
does,  by  enabling  him  to  keep  part  of  what  he  borrowed. 
If  then  these  schemes  really  mean  that  silver  shall  pass  at 


206    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

its  value,  they  are  of  no  use.  It  does  so  now.  If  they  mean 
that  silver  shall  be  enabled  to  pay  debts  in  some  other  way 
than  iron,  wheat,  cotton,  etc.,  then  we  know  what  we  are 
dealing  with.  There  is  just  as  much  reason  why  the  gov- 
ernment should  pay  for  elevators  and  issue  certificates  of 
the  amount  and  quality  of  grain,  which  should  be  legal 
tender,  as  there  is  why  it  should  assay  and  stamp  sUver  for 
that  purpose,  and  issue  notes  for  it.  These  cases  only  serve 
to  bring  out  the  distinction  between  money  and  merchan- 
dise, and  to  show  that  the  perfection  of  money  does  not  lie 
in  the  direction  of  a  multiple  legal  tender,  but  of  a  single 
standard,  as  sharp  and  definite  as  possible.  Such  a  stand- 
ard has  the  same  advantages  in  exchange  as  the  most  ac- 
curate measures  of  length  and  weight  have  in  surveying  or 
in  chemistry,  and  it  is  turning  backward  the  progress  of 
monetary  science  to  introduce  fluctuations  and  doubt  into 
the  standard  of  value,  just  as  it  would  be  to  cultivate  inac- 
curacy in  weights  and  measures. 

Here  I  am  forced  to  notice  another  hasty  and  mischievous 
analogy.  Some  devices  for  composite  measures  of  length 
have  been  adopted  to  avoid  contraction  and  expansion, 
and  it  is  urged  that  bimetallic  money  is  a  step  in  the  same 
direction.  I  by  no  means  assert  that  science  can  do 
nothing  to  reach  a  better  standard  of  value  than  gold  is. 
What  progress  in  that  direction  may  lie  in  the  future  no 
one  can  tell,  and  he  would  be  rash  who  should  ever  presume 
to  deny  that  progress  can  be  made;  but  when  any  proposition 
is  presented  it  will  have  to  show  what  composite  measures 
of  length  show,  viz.,  that  its  action  is  founded  on  natural 
laws.  Heat  and  cold  act  oppositely  on  the  components 
of  the  composite  measures  of  length,  or  the  arrangement 
is  such  that  the  action  of  the  natural  forces  neutralizes. 
No  such  scientific  principle  underlies  bimetallic  money. 
The  forces  determining  the  value  of  gold  and  silver 
act    independently    of    each    other    and   are  not   subject 


CIRCULATION  OF  GOLD  AND  SLLVER  207 

to  common  influences.  They  are  complex,  moreover,  and 
their  effects  are  not  uniform  in  their  different  degrees. 
Therefore  this  analogy  also  fails. 

The  opinion  that  a  concurrent  circulation  is  not  possible 
has  led  several  of  the  leading  nations  of  Europe  (and,  at 
the  time  of  writing  such  is  still  the  system  of  the  United 
States)  to  adopt  the  plan  of  a  permanently  false  rating  of 
gold  and  silver,  so  as  to  use  silver  as  a  subsidiary  coinage. 
Silver  is  permanently  overrated,  so  that  it  obtains  currency 
above  its  bullion  value.  If  the  civilized  nations  want  to 
use  silver  for  money,  so  that  the  total  amount  of  metallic 
money  in  the  Western  world  shall  be  greater  than  the 
amount  of  gold,  and  if  they  are  not  satisfied  with  the  use 
of  it  as  subsidiary,  then  there  is  only  one  way  left,  and  that 
is  for  some  nations  to  use  gold  and  some  to  use  silver.  This 
was  the  solution  of  the  bimetallic  difficulty  which  China 
was  forced  to  adopt  a  thousand  years  ago.  Some  provinces 
used  iron  and  some  copper.  The  question  then  arises 
as  to  who  will  take  silver.  This  brings  me  to  the  last 
point  of  which  I  have  to  speak. 

I  have  discussed  my  subject  as  if  gold  and  silver  stood 
on  the  same  level  of  desirability  for  money,  and  as  if  there 
were  no  choice  of  convenience  between  them.  Such  is  not 
the  case  in  fact.  It  will  be  observed  that  gold  and  silver 
never  have  been  used  together.  Gold  has  generally  been 
subsidiary,  being  employed  for  large  transactions.  With  the 
advance  of  prices  and  the  increase  in  variety  of  commodi- 
ties, as  well  as  in  the  magnitude  of  transactions,  nations 
have  passed  from  copper  money  to  silver  and  from  silver 
to  gold.  This  advance  is  dictated  by  convenience.  Silver 
is  no  longer  as  convenient  a  money  for  civilized  industrial 
and  commercial  nations  as  gold.  We  therefore  see  them 
gradually  abandoning  silver,  and  we  saw  the  Latin  Union 
set  up  a  bar  against  silver  so  soon  as  the  operation  of  the 
double  legal  tender  threatened  to  take  away  gold  and  give 


208    THE  FORGOTTEN   MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

it  silver.  Whether  this  movement  from  silver  to  gold 
can  be  accomplished  without  financial  convulsions  I  am 
not  prepared  to  say,  especially  in  view  of  the  extent  to 
which  the  nations  have  depreciated  gold  by  paper  issues, 
but  I  regard  the  movement  as  one  which  must  inevitably 
go  forward.  The  nations  which  step  into  the  movement 
first  will  lose  least  on  the  silver  they  have  to  sell.  The 
nations  which  use  silver  until  the  last  will  lose  most  upon 
it,  because  they  will  find  no  one  to  take  it  off  their  hands. 
If  we  now  abandon  the  gold  standard  and  buy  the  cast-off 
silver  of  the  nations  which  have  been  using  it  and  are 
now  anxious  to  get  rid  of  it,  we  voluntarily  subject  our- 
selves to  that  loss,  which  we  are  in  no  respect  called  upon 
to  share.  The  Dutch  at  New  York  kept  up  the  use  of 
wampum  longer  than  the  English  in  New  England.  When 
the  Yankees  were  trying  to  get  rid  of  it,  they  carried  it 
to  New  York,  adding  some  which  they  manufactured  for 
the  purpose,  and  they  carried  the  goods  of  the  Dutchmen 
away.  The  latter  then  found  that  they  held  a  currency 
which  they  could  only  get  rid  of  at  great  loss  and  delay  to 
the  Indians  north  and  west  of  them.  The  Yankees  thus 
early  earned  a  reputation  for  smartness.  The  measure 
now  proposed  is  a  complete  parallel,  only  that  now  this 
nation  proposes  to  take  the  role  of  the  Dutch.  We  shall 
have  to  give  our  capital  for  silver,  and  after  we  have 
suffered  from  years  of  experience  with  a  tool  of  exchange 
inferior  to  that  which  our  neighbors  are  using,  we  shall 
have  to  get  rid  of  it  and  buy  the  best.  Then  we  shall 
incur  the  loss  —  to  all  those  who  have  anything  —  of  the  dif- 
ference between  the  capital  we  gave  and  that  which  we 
can  get  for  the  silver.  The  dreams  of  getting  silver  and 
keeping  gold  too,  so  as  to  have  a  concurrent  circulation,  are 
all  vain.  At  the  rating  proposed  there  is  no  difference  of 
opinion  on  this  point  amongst  any  persons  at  all  qualified 
to  give  an  opinion.     The  real  significance  of  the  proposi- 


CIRCULATION  OF  GOLD  AND  SILVER  209 

tions  before  the  country  is  to  make  us  one  of  the  nations 
to  take  silver  in  the  distribution  I  have  described.  The 
notion  of  a  coinage  union  is  impracticable.  It  would  be 
easier  to  get  up  an  international  union  to  do  away  with 
war.  England  is  perfectly  satisfied  with  her  money.  She 
appreciates  the  peril  of  monetary  experiments  and  will 
make  none.  Germany,  Sweden,  Finland,  Denmark,  and 
Holland  have  just  changed  from  silver  to  gold,  and  will 
not  enter  on  any  new  changes  for  a  long  period,  if  ever. 
The  coinage  union  is  therefore  out  of  the  question.  The 
issue  before  us  is  simply  whether  we,  being  a  gold 
nation,  will,  under  these  circumstances,  abandon  gold  and 
take  up  silver.  No  doubt  the  nations  which  want  gold 
would  be  very  glad  to  have  us  do  it.  We  should  render 
them  a  great  service;  we  should,  however,  do  ourselves 
great  harm,  as  much  so  as  if  we  should  buy  a  lot  of  cast-off 
machinery  from  them.  They  are  waiting  to  see  whether 
we  are  ignorant  and  foolish  enough  to  put  ourselves  in  this 
position;  and  when  they  have  seen,  we  shall  hear  no  more 
of  the  coinage  union. 

I  have  now  presented  the  views  to  which  my  study  of 
this  question  has  led  me.  It  will  be  perceived  that  I  direct 
my  attack  against  the  postulate  of  all  the  bimetallic  theo- 
ries. I  have  carefully  discriminated  between  the  alternate 
standard  and  bimetallism.  I  have  said  little  about  the 
former.  It  is  very  much  a  matter  of  opinion  whether  it 
would  work  or  not.  I  do  not  believe  that  it  would,  under  a 
coinage  union,  but  I  should  not  feel  forced  to  take  strong 
ground  against  any  one  who  held  the  contrary  opinion. 
My  subject  has  been  a  concurrent  circulation  of  gold  and 
silver,  and  I  have  tried  to  controvert  the  notion  that  any 
such  thing  is  possible,  with  or  without  a  coinage  union, 
because  that  notion  contradicts  the  first  great  law  of  eco- 
nomic science.  If  that  notion  is  true,  then  there  is  no 
science  of  political  economy  at  all;    there  are  no  laws  to 


210    THE  FORGOTTEN   MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

be  found  out,  a  professional  economist  has  nothing  to 
teach,  and  he  might  better  try  to  find  some  useful  occupa- 
tion. If  that  notion  is  true,  we  have  no  ground  on  which 
to  criticize  the  Congressmen  who  are  trying  to  pass  the 
silver  bill.  We  cannot  predict  any  consequences  or  draw 
any  inferences  from  past  experience.  If  legislation  can 
control  value  for  definite  results,  then  the  whole  matter  is 
purely  empirical.  In  that  case,  the  Congressional  experi- 
ment may  turn  out  well  for  all  the  grounds  we  have  to 
assert  the  contrary;  its  success  would  only  be  question- 
able, not  impossible;  if  it  failed  it  would  not  be  because  its 
supporters  had  attempted  the  impossible,  but  because  they 
had  not  used  sufficient  means.  They  could  go  on  to  try 
the  experiment  again  and  again  in  other  forms  and  with 
other  means,  and  they  would  indeed  be  doing  right  to 
proceed  with  their  experiments,  like  the  old  alchemists, 
in  the  hope  of  hitting  it  at  last.  No  economist  would 
have  any  ground  upon  which  to  step  in  and  define  the 
limits  of  the  possible,  or  to  prescribe  the  conditions  of 
success,  or  to  set  forth  the  methods  which  must  be  pur- 
sued —  if  he  could  not  appeal  with  confidence  to  the  laws 
of  his  science  as  something  to  which  legislature  as  well 
as  individuals  must  bend.  Therefore  one  who  holds  the 
views  I  have  expressed  in  regard  to  economic  forces, 
laws,  and  phenomena  is  compelled,  as  well  by  his  faith 
in  his  science  as  by  the  public  interests  now  at  stake  in 
the  question,  to  maintain  that  a  concurrent  circulation 
of  gold  and  silver,  either  with  or  without  a  coinage  union, 
is  impossible. 


THE  INFLUENCE   OF   COMMERCIAL   CRISES 

ON  OPINIONS  ABOUT  ECONOMIC 

DOCTRINES 


THE  INFLUENCE   OF  COMMERCIAL   CRISES 

ON  OPINIONS  ABOUT  ECONOMIC 

DOCTRINES 

[1879] 

ANY  ONE  who  follows  the  current  literature  about 
economic  subjects  will  perceive  that  it  is  so  full  of 
contradictions  as  to  create  a  doubt  whether  there  are  any 
economic  laws,  or  whether,  if  there  are  any,  we  know  any- 
thing about  them.  No  body  of  men  ever  succeeded  in 
molding  the  opinions  of  others  by  wrangling  with  each 
other,  and  that  is  the  present  attitude  in  which  the  econ- 
omists present  themselves  before  the  public.  Like  other 
people  who  engage  in  wrangling,  the  economists  have  also 
allowed  their  method  to  degenerate  from  argument  to 
abuse,  contempt,  and  sneering  disparagement  of  each 
other.  The  more  superficial  and  self-suflBcient  the  opinions 
and  behavior  of  the  disputants,  the  more  absolutely  they 
abandon  sober  arguments  and  devote  themselves  to  the 
method  I  have  described.  As  I  have  little  taste  for  this 
kind  of  discussion  and  believe  that  it  only  degrades  the 
science  of  which  I  am  a  student,  I  have  taken  no  part  in  it. 
In  answer  to  your  invitation,  now,  what  I  propose  to  do 
is  to  call  your  attention  to  some  features  of  the  economic 
situation  of  civilized  nations  at  the  present  time  with  a 
view  to  establish  two  points: 

1.  To  explain  the  vacillation  and  feebleness  of  opinions 
about  economic  doctrine  which  mark  the  present  time,  and 

2.  To  show  the  necessity,  just  at  this  time,  of  calm  and 
sober  apprehension  of  sound  doctrine  in  political  economy. 

At  the  outset  let  me  ask  you  to  notice  the  effects  which 

213   ' 


214     THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

have  been  produced  during  the  last  century  by  the  de- 
velopments of  science  and  of  the  industrial  arts.  Formerly, 
industry  was  pursued  on  a  small  scale,  with  little  or  no 
organization.  Markets  were  limited  to  small  districts,  and 
commerce  was  confined  to  raw  materials  and  colonial  prod- 
ucts. Producer  and  consumer  met  face  to  face.  The  con- 
ditions of  the  market  were  open  to  personal  inspection. 
The  relations  of  supply  and  demand  were  matters  of  per- 
sonal experience.  Production  was  carried  on  for  orders 
only  in  many  branches  of  industry,  so  that  supply  and 
demand  were  fitted  to  one  another,  as  we  may  say,  phys- 
ically. Disproportionate  production  was,  therefore,  pre- 
vented and  the  necessity  of  redistributing  productive 
effort  was  made  plain  by  the  most  direct  personal  experi- 
ence. Under  such  a  state  of  things,  much  time  must  elapse 
between  the  formation  of  a  wish  and  its  realization. 

Within  a  cenfury  very  many  and  various  forces  have 
been  at  work  to  produce  an  entire  change  in  this  system 
of  industry.  The  invention  of  the  steam  engine  and  of  the 
machines  used  in  the  textile  fabrics  produced  the  factory 
system,  with  a  high  organization  of  industry,  concentrated 
at  certain  centers.  The  opening  of  canals  and  the  improve- 
ment of  highways  made  possible  the  commerce  by  which 
the  products  were  distributed.  The  cheapening  of  printing 
and  the  multiplication  of  means  of  advertising  widened  the 
market  by  concentrating  the  demand  which  was  widely 
dispersed  in  place,  until  now  the  market  is  the  civilized 
world.  The  applications  of  steam  power  to  roads  and  ships 
only  extended  further  the  same  development,  and  the  tele- 
graph has  only  cheapened  and  accelerated  the  means  of 
communicating  information  to  the  same  end. 

What  have  been  the  effects  on  industry? 

1.  The  whole  industry  and  commerce  of  the  world  have 
been  built  up  into  a  great  system  in  which  organization 
has  become  essential  and  in  which  it  has  been  carried  forward 


COMMERCIAL  CRISES  215 

and  is  being  carried  forward  every  day  to  new  developments. 
Industry  has  been  growing  more  and  more  impersonal  as  far 
as  the  parties  to  it  are  concerned.  Our  wants  are  satisfied 
instantaneously  and  regularly  by  the  cooperation  of  thou- 
sands of  people  all  over  the  world  whom  we  have  never  seen 
or  heard  of;  and  we  earn  our  living  daily  by  contributing  to 
satisfy  the  wants  of  thousands  scattered  all  over  the  world, 
of  whom  we  know  nothing  personally.  In  the  place  of 
actual  contact  and  acquaintance  with  the  persons  who  are 
parties  to  the  transactions,  we  now  depend  upon  the  regu- 
larity, under  the  conditions  of  earthly  life,  of  human  wants 
and  human  efforts.  The  system  of  industry  is  built  upon 
the  constancy  of  certain  conditions  of  human  existence, 
upon  the  certainty  of  the  economic  forces  which  thence 
arise,  and  upon  the  fact  that  those  forces  act  with  perfect 
regularity  under  changeless  laws.  If  we  but  reflect  a  mo- 
ment, we  shall  see  that  modern  industry  and  commerce 
could  not  go  on  for  a  day  if  we  were  not  dealing  here  with 
forces  and  laws  which  may  properly  be  called  natural  be- 
cause they  come  into  action  when  the  conditions  are  ful- 
filled, because  the  conditions  cannot  but  exist  if  there  is  a 
society  of  human  beings  collected  anywhere  on  earth,  and 
because,  when  the  forces  come  into  action,  they  work  them- 
selves out,  according  to  their  laws,  without  possible  escape 
from  their  effects.  We  can  divert  the  forces  from  one 
course  to  another;  we  can  change  their  form;  we  can 
make  them  expend  themselves  upon  one  person  or  interest 
instead  of  upon  another.  We  do  this  all  the  time,  by  bad 
legislation,  by  prejudice,  habit,  fashion,  erroneous  notions 
of  equity,  happiness,  the  highest  good,  and  so  on;  but  we 
never  destroy  an  economic  force  any  more  than  we  destroy 
a  physical  force. 

2.  Of  course  it  follows  that  success  in  the  production 
of  wealth  under  this  modern  system  depends  primarily  on 
the   correctness   with   which   men   learn   the   character   of 


216     THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

economic  forces  and  of  the  laws  under  which  those  forces  act. 
This  is  the  field  of  the  science  of  political  economy,  and  it 
is  the  reason  why  it  is  a  science.  It  investigates  the  laws 
of  forces  which  are  natural,  not  arbitrary,  artificial,  or  con- 
ventional. Some  communities  have  developed  a  great 
hatred  for  persons  w^ho  held  different  religious  opinions 
from  themselves.  Such  a  feeling  would  be  a  great  social 
force,  but  it  would  be  arbitrary  and  artificial.  Many  com- 
munities have  held  that  all  labor,  not  mental,  was  slavish 
and  degrading.  This  notion,  too,  was  conventional,  but 
it  was  a  great  social  force  where  it  existed.  Such  notions, 
either  past  or  present,  are  worth  studying  for  historical 
interest  and  instruction,  but  they  do  not  afford  the  basis 
for  a  science  whose  object  is  to  find  out  what  is  true  in 
regard  to  the  relations  of  man  to  the  world  in  which  he 
lives.  The  study  of  them  throws  a  valuable  sidelight  on 
the  true  relations  of  human  life,  just  as  the  study  of  error 
always  throws  a  sidelight  upon  the  truth,  but  they  have 
no  similarity  to  the  law  that  men  want  the  maximum  of 
satisfaction  for  the  minimum  of  effort,  or  to  the  law  of  the 
diminishing  return  from  land,  or  to  the  law  of  population, 
or  to  the  law  of  supply  and  demand.  Nothing  can  be 
gained,  therefore,  by  mixing  up  history  and  science,  valu- 
able as  one  is  to  the  other.  If  men  try  to  carry  on  any 
operation  without  an  intelligent  theory  of  the  forces  with 
which  they  are  dealing,  they  inevitably  become  the  vic- 
tims of  the  operation,  not  its  masters.  Hence  they  always 
do  try  to  form  some  theory  of  the  forces  in  question  and 
to  plan  the  means  to  the  end  accordingly.  The  forces  of 
nature  go  on  and  are  true  only  to  themselves.  They  never 
swerve  out  of  pity  for  innocent  error  or  well-intentioned 
mistakes.  This  is  as  true  of  economic  forces  as  of  any 
others.  What  is  meant  by  a  good  or  a  bad  investment, 
except  that  one  is  based  on  a  correct  judgment  of  forces 
and  the  other  on  incorrect  judgment?    How  would  sagacity, 


COMMERCIAL  CRISES  217 

care,  good  judgment,  and  prudence  meet  their  reward  if 
the  economic  forces  swerved  out  of  pity  for  error?  We 
know  that  there  is  no  such  thing  in  the  order  of  nature. 

I  repeat,  then,  that  the  modern  industrial  and  commer- 
cial system,  dealing  as  it  does  with  vast  movements  which 
no  one  mind  can  follow  or  compass  in  their  ramifications 
and  which  are  kept  in  harmony  by  natural  laws,  demands 
steadily  advancing,  clear,  and  precise  knowledge  of  eco- 
nomic laws;  that  this  knowledge  must  banish  prejudices 
and  traditions;  that  it  must  conquer  baseless  enthusiasms 
and  whimsical  hopes.  If  it  does  not  accomplish  this,  we 
can  expect  but  one  result  —  that  men  will  chase  all  sorts 
of  phantoms  and  impossible  hopes;  that  they  will  waste 
their  efforts  upon  schemes  which  can  only  bring  loss;  and 
that  some  will  run  one  way  and  some  another  until  society 
loses  all  coherence,  all  unanimity  of  judgment  as  to  what 
is  to  be  sought  and  how  to  attain  to  it.  The  destruction 
of  capital  is  only  the  least  of  the  evils  to  be  apprehended 
in  such  a  case.  I  do  not  believe  that  we  begin  to  appreciate 
one  effect  of  the  new  civilization  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
viz.,  that  the  civilized  world  of  to-day  is  a  unit,  that  it 
must  move  as  a  whole,  that  with  the  means  we  have  de- 
vised of  a  common  consent  in  regard  to  the  ends  of  human 
life  and  the  means  of  attaining  them  has  come  also  the 
necessity  that  we  should  move  onward  in  civilization  by  a 
common  consent.  The  barriers  of  race,  religion,  language, 
and  nationality  are  melting  away  under  the  operation  of 
the  same  forces  which  have  to  such  an  extent  annihilated 
the  obstacles  of  distance  and  time.  Civilization  is  con- 
stantly becoming  more  uniform.  The  conquests  of  some 
become  at  once  the  possession  of  all.  It  follows  that  our 
scientific  knowledge  of  the  laws  which  govern  the  life  of 
men  in  society  must  keep  pace  with  this  development  or 
we  shall  find  our  social  tasks  grow  faster  than  our  knowl- 
edge of  social  science,  and  our  society  will  break  to  pieces 


218    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

under  the  burden.  How,  then,  is  this  scientific  knowledge 
to  grow?  Certainly  not  without  controversy,  but  certainly 
also  not  without  coherent,  steady,  and  persistent  effort, 
proceeding  on  the  lines  already  cut,  breaking  new  ground 
when  possible,  correcting  old  errors  when  necessary. 

3.  It  is  another  feature  of  the  modern  industrial  system 
that,  like  every  high  organization,  it  requires  men  of  suita- 
ble ability  and  skill  at  its  head.  The  qualities  which  are 
required  for  a  great  banker,  merchant,  or  manufacturer  are 
as  rare  as  any  other  great  gifts  among  men,  and  the  quali- 
ties demanded,  or  the  degree  in  which  they  are  demanded', 
are  increasing  every  day  with  the  expansion  of  the  modern 
industrial  system.  The  qualities  required  are  those  of  the 
practical  man,  properly  so  called:  sagacity,  good  judg- 
ment, prudence,  boldness,  and  energy.  The  training,  both 
scientific  and  practical,  which  is  required  for  a  great  master 
of  industry  is  wide  and  various.  The  great  movements  of 
industry,  like  all  other  great  movements,  present  subordi- 
nate phenomena  which  q,re  apparently  opposed  to,  or  in- 
consistent with  their  great  tendencies  and  their  general 
character.  These  phenomena,  being  smaller  in  scope,  more 
directly  subject  to  observation  and  therefore  apparently 
more  distinct  and  positive,  are  well  calculated  to  mislead 
the  judgment,  either  of  the  practical  man  or  of  the  scientific 
student.  In  nothing,  therefore,  does  the  well-trained  man 
distinguish  himself  from  the  ill-trained  man  more  than  in 
the  balance  of  judgment  by  which  he  puts  phenomena  in 
their  true  relative  position  and  refuses  to  be  led  astray  by 
what  is  incidental  or  subsidiary.  If,  now,  the  question  is 
asked,  whether  we  have  produced  a  class  of  highly  trained 
men,  competent  to  organize  labor,  transportation,  com- 
merce, and  banking,  on  the  scale  required  by  the  modern 
system,  as  rapidly  as  the  need  for  them  has  increased,  I 
believe  no  one  will  answer  in  the  affirmative. 

4.  Another  observation  to  which  we  are  led  upon  notic- 


COMMERCIAL  CRISES  219 

ing  the  character  of  the  modern  industrial  system  is  that 
^nv  errors  or  folUes  committed  in  one  portion  of  t  «ill 
;Zdu ^effects  which  will  ramify  through  *«  who  e  sys- 
tem     We  have  here  an  industrial  organism,  not  a  mere 

^chanical  combination,  and  any  d-'-''--  ^  ^^  Th 
of  it  will  derange  or  vitiate,  more  or  less    the  whole     Ihe 
phenomena  which  here  appear  belong  to  what  l^^s  been 
calledTructifying  causation.    One  economic  error  produces 
ir^U  w^Tch  combine  with  those  of  another  economic  error 
and  the  product  of  the  two  is  not  their  sum,  nor  even  the^ 
tple  pLuct,  but  the  eva  may  ll^f^^^^^-Jt 
-tC  thVmir  "easJi  —2.^  Currency  and 
fri^'errors  constantly  react  upon  each  o^her    and  -U^^^ 
ply  and  develop  -^  other  >n^™^^/^^^^^^^^^^ 

r^a  io^  "m:erce\::l%:edit  which  are  now  so 
W      There  is  no  limit  to  the  interest  which  civilized 
n:^ns  h^in'each  other's  economic  and  PoUtica^  wis  om 
for  thev  all  bear  the  consequences  of  each  other  s  toines. 
Hence  'when  we  have  to  deal  with  that  ^0-  °f  -— 
disease  which  we  call  a  commercial  crisis,  we  m.,t^e 
its  origin  to  special  errors  in  one  country  and  m  another 
and  mav  trace  out  the  actions  and  reactions  by  which  the 
!fflrhave  been  communicated  from  one  to  another  unti 
f      d  hv  aU     but  no  philosophy  of  a  great  commercial 
Ss'r^'ate  nowadays  unless  it  embraces  i.  its  s.pe 

the  whole  civilized  world.    A  ---7';;^  "^^^.^'J  ^heZ- 
bance  in  the  Ha~us  opera ."^^^^  the^  pa  ts  c,l  th^^^_^ 

rrsSrandrinlously^e^^^^^^^^ 

A  u=  l^Pnlth  and  vigor  are  denoted  by  its  growth,  tnat  s, 
Ty  ^e  atlut::'  of  capital,  which  ^t'-^l^^^fj 
turn  the  hope,  energy,  -^  .^terpnse  of  men  Jndustrial 
disease    is    produced    by    disproportionate    production, 


220    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

wrong  distribution  of  labor,  erroneous  judgment  in  enter- 
prise, or  miscalculations  of  force.  These  all  have  the  same 
effect,  viz,,  to  waste  and  destroy  capital.  Such  causes 
disturb,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree,  the  harmonious  work- 
ing of  the  system,  which  depends  upon  the  regular  and  exact 
fulfillment  of  the  expectations  which  have  been  based  on 
cooperative  effort  throughout  the  whole  industrial  body. 
The  disturbance  may  be  slight  and  temporary,  or  it  may 
be  very  serious.  In  the  latter  case  it  will  be  necessary  to 
arrest  the  movement  of  the  whole  system  and  to  proceed 
to  a  general  liquidation,  before  starting  again.  Such  was 
the  case  from  1837  to  1842,  and  such  has  been  the  case  for 
the  last  five  years.  It  is  needless  to  add  that  this  arrest 
and  liquidation  cannot  be  accomplished  without  distress 
and  loss  to  great  numbers  of  innocent  persons,  and  great 
positive  loss  of  capital,  to  say  nothing  of  what  might  have 
been  won  during  the  same  period  but  must  be  foregone. 

The  financial  organization  is  the  medium  by  which  the 
various  parts  of  the  industrial  and  commercial  organism 
are  held  in  harmony.  It  is  by  the  financial  organization 
that  capital  is  collected  and  distributed,  that  the  friction 
of  exchanges  is  reduced  to  a  minimum,  and  that  time  is 
economized,  through  credit,  between  production  and  con- 
sumption. The  financial  system  furnishes  three  indicators  — 
prices,  the  rate  of  discount,  and  the  foreign  exchanges  — 
through  which  we  may  read  the  operation  of  economic 
forces  now  that  their  magnitude  makes  it  impossible  to 
inspect  them  directly.  Hence  the  great  mischief  of  usury 
laws  which  tamper  with  the  rate  of  discount,  and  of  fluc- 
tuating currencies  which  falsify  prices  and  the  foreign 
exchanges.  They  destroy  the  value  of  the  indicators,  and 
have  the  same  effect  as  tampering  with  the  scales  of  a 
chemist  or  the  steam-gauge  of  a  locomotive. 

In  the  matter  of  prices  we  have  another  difficulty  to 
contend  with,  which  is  inevitable  in  the  nature  of  things. 


COMMERCIAL  CRISES  221 

We  must  choose  some  commodity  to  be  the  denominator 
of  value.  We  can  find  no  commodity  which  is  not  itself 
subject  to  fluctuation  in  its  ratio  of  exchange  with  other 
things.  Great  crises  have  been  caused  in  past  times  by 
fluctuations  in  the  value  of  the  commodities  chosen  as 
money,  and  such  an  element  is,  no  doubt,  at  hand  in  the 
present  crisis,  although  it  had  nothing  to  do  with  bringing 
it  about.  It  follows  that  any  improvement  in  the  world's 
money  is  worth  any  sacrifice  which  it  can  possibly  cost,  if 
it  tends  to  secure  a  more  simple,  exact,  and  unchanging 
standard  of  value. 

The  next  point  of  which  I  wish  to  speak  is  easily  intro- 
duced by  the  last  remark;  that  point  is  the  cost  of  all  improve- 
ment. The  human  race  has  made  no  step  whatever  in 
civilization  which  has  not  been  won  by  pain  and  distress. 
It  wins  no  steps  now  without  paying  for  them  in  sacrifices. 
To  notice  only  things  which  are  directly  pertinent  to  our 
present  purpose:  every  service  which  we  win  from  nature 
displaces  the  acquired  skill  of  the  men  who  formerly  per- 
formed the  service;  every  such  step  is  a  gain  to  the  race, 
but  it  imposes  on  some  men  the  necessity  of  finding  new 
means  of  livelihood,  and  if  those  men  are  advanced  in 
life,  this  necessity  may  be  harsh  in  the  extreme.  Every 
new  machine,  although  it  saves  labor,  and  because  it  saves 
labor,  serves  the  human  race,  yet  destroys  a  vested 
interest  of  some  laborers  in  the  work  which  it  performs. 
It  imposes  on  them  the  necessity  of  turning  to  a  new  occu- 
pation, and  this  is  hardly  ever  possible  without  a  period  of 
distress.  It  very  probably  throws  them  down  from  the 
rank  of  skilled  to  that  of  unskilled  labor.  Every  new  ma- 
chine also  destroys  capital.  It  makes  useless  the  half- 
worn-out  machines  which  it  supersedes.  So  canals  caused 
capital  which  was  invested  in  turnpikes  and  state  coaches 
to  depreciate,  and  so  railroads  have  caused  the  capital 
invested  in  canals  and  other  forms  to  depreciate.    I  see  no 


222     THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND   OTHER  ESSAYS 

exception  to  the  rule  that  the  progress  won  by  the  race 
is  always  won  at  the  expense  of  some  group  of  its  members. 

Any  one  who  will  look  back  upon  the  last  twenty-five 
years  cannot  fail  to  notice  that  the  changes,  advances,  and 
improvements  have  been  numerous  and  various.  We  are 
accustomed  to  congratulate  each  other  upon  them.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  that  they  must  and  will  contribute  to  the 
welfare  of  the  human  race  beyond  what  any  one  can  now 
possibly  foresee  or  measure.  I  am  firmly  convinced,  for 
my  opinion,  that  the  conditions  of  wealth  and  civilization 
for  the  next  quarter  of  a  century  are  provided  for  in  excess 
of  any  previous  period  of  history,  and  that  nothing  but 
human  folly  can  prevent  a  period  of  prosperity  which  we, 
even  now,  should  regard  as  fabulous.  We  can  throw  it 
away  if  we  are  too  timid,  if  we  become  frightened  at  the 
rate  of  our  own  speed,  or  if  we  mistake  the  phenomena  of 
a  new  era  for  the  approach  of  calamity,  or  if  the  nations 
turn  back  to  mediaeval  darkness  and  isolation,  or  if  we 
elevate  the  follies  and  ignorances  of  the  past  into  elements 
of  economic  truth,  or  if,  instead  of  pursuing  liberty  with 
full  faith  and  hope,  the  civilized  world  becomes  the  arena 
of  a  great  war  of  classes  in  which  all  civilization  must  be 
destroyed.  But,  such  follies  apart,  the  conditions  of  pros- 
perity are  all  provided. 

We  must  notice,  however,  that  these  innovations  have 
fallen  with  great  rapidity  upon  a  vast  range  of  industries, 
that  they  have  accumulated  their  effects,  that  they  have 
suddenly  altered  the  currents  of  trade  and  the  methods  of 
industry,  and  that  we  have  hardly  learned  to  accommodate 
ourselves  to  one  new  set  of  circumstances  before  a  newer 
change  or  modification  has  been  imposed.  Some  inven- 
tions, of  which  the  Bessemer  steel  is  the  most  remarkable 
example,  have  revolutionized  industries.  Some  new  chan- 
nels of  commerce  have  been  opened  which  have  changed 
the  character  and  methods  of  very  important  branches  of 


COMMERCL\L  CRISES  223 

commerce.  We  have  also  seen  a  movement  of  several 
nations  to  secure  a  gold  currency,  which  movement  fell 
in  with  a  large  if  not  extraordinary  production  of  silver 
and  altered  the  comparative  demand  and  supply  of  the 
two  metals  at  the  same  time.  This  movement  had  nothing 
arbitrary  about  it,  but  proceeded  from  sound  motives  and 
reasons  in  the  interest  of  the  nations  which  took  this  step. 
There  is  here  no  ground  for  condemnation  or  approval. 
Such  action  by  sovereign  nations  is  taken  under  liberty 
and  responsibility  to  themselves  alone,  and  if  it  is  taken 
on  a  sufficiently  large  scale  to  form  an  event  of  importance 
to  the  civilized  world,  it  must  be  regarded  as  a  step  in 
civilization.  It  can  only  be  criticized  by  history.  For  the 
present,  it  is  to  be  accepted  and  interpreted  only  as  an 
indication  that  there  are  reasons  and  motives  of  self-interest 
which  can  lead  a  large  part  of  the  civilized  world  to  this 
step  at  this  time. 

The  last  twenty-five  years  have  also  included  political 
events  which  have  had  great  effects  on  industry.  Our  Civil 
War  caused  an  immense  destruction  of  capital  and  left  a 
large  territory  with  millions  of  inhabitants  almost  entirely 
ruined  in  its  industry,  and  with  its  labor  system  exposed  to 
the  necessity  of  an  entire  re-formation.  Part  of  the  expendi- 
tures and  losses  of  the  war  were  postponed  and  distributed 
by  means  of  the  paper  currency  which,  instead  of  imposing 
industry  and  economy  to  restore  the  losses  and  waste, 
created  the  foolish  belief  that  we  could  make  war  and  get 
rich  by  it.  The  patriotic  willingness  of  the  nation  to  be 
taxed  was  abused  to  impose  taxes  for  protection,  not  for 
revenue,  so  that  the  industry  of  the  country  was  distorted 
and  forced  into  unnatural  development.  The  collapse  of 
1873,  followed  by  a  fall  in  prices  and  a  general  liquidation, 
was  due  to  the  fact  that  every  one  knew  in  his  heart  that 
the  state  of  things  which  had  existed  for  some  years  before 
was  hollow  and  fictitious.    Confidence  failed  because  every 


224    THE  FORGOTTEN   MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

one  knew  that  there  were  no  real  grounds  for  confidence. 
The  Franco-Prussian  war  had,  also,  while  it  lasted,  pro- 
duced a  period  of  false  and  feverish  prosperity  in  England. 
It  was  succeeded  by  great  political  changes  in  Germany 
which,  together  with  the  war  indemnity,  led  to  a  sudden 
and  unfounded  expansion  of  speculation,  amounting  to  a 
mania.  Germany  undoubtedly  stands  face  to  face  with  a 
new  political  and  industrial  future,  but  she  has  postponed 
it  by  a  headlong  effort  to  realize  it  at  once.  In  France,  too, 
the  war  was  followed  by  a  hasty,  and,  as  we  are  told,  unwise 
extension  of  permanent  capital,  planned  to  meet  the  ex- 
traordinary demand  of  an  empty  market.  In  England  the 
prosperity  of  1870-1872  has  been  followed  as  usual  by  de- 
velopments of  unsound  credit,  bad  banking,  and  needless 
investments  in  worthless  securities. 

Here  then  we  have,  in  a  brief  and  inadequate  statement, 
circumstances  in  all  these  great  industrial  nations  peculiar 
to  each,  yet  certainly  suflBcient  to  account  for  a  period  of 
reaction  and  distress.  We  have  also  before  us  great  fea- 
tures of  change  in  the  world's  industry  and  commerce 
which  must  ultimately  produce  immeasurable  advantages, 
but  which  may  well,  operating  with  local  causes,  produce 
temporary  difficulty;  and  we  have  to  notice  also  that  the 
local  causes  react  through  the  commercial  and  credit  rela- 
tions of  nations  to  distribute  the  evil. 

It  is  not  surprising,  under  such  a  state  of  things,  that 
some  people  should  lose  their  heads  and  begin  to  doubt  the 
economic  doctrines  which  have  been  most  thoroughly  es- 
tablished. It  belongs  to  the  symptoms  of  disease  to  lose 
confidence  in  the  laws  of  health  and  to  have  recourse  to 
quack  remedies.  I  have  already  observed  that  certain 
phenomena  appear  in  every  great  social  movement  which 
are  calculated  to  deceive  by  apparent  inconsistency  or 
divergence.  Hence  we  have  seen  the  economists,  instead 
of  holding  together  and  sustaining,  at  the  time  when  it 


COMMERCIAL  CRISES  225 

was  most  needed,  both  the  scientific  authority  and  the 
positive  truth  of  their  doctrines,  break  up  and  run  hither 
and  thither,  some  of  them  running  away  altogether.  Many 
of  them  seem  to  be  terrified  to  find  that  distress  and  misery 
still  remain  on  earth  and  promise  to  remain  as  long  as  the 
vices  of  human  nature  remain.  Many  of  them  are  fright- 
ened at  liberty,  especially  under  the  form  of  competition, 
which  they  elevate  into  a  bugbear.  They  think  that  it 
bears  harshly  on  the  weak.  They  do  not  perceive  that 
here  "the  strong"  and  "the  weak"  are  terms  which  admit 
of  no  definition  unless  they  are  made  equivalent  to  the 
industrious  and  the  idle,  the  frugal  and  the  extravagant. 
They  do  not  perceive,  furthermore,  that  if  we  do  not  like 
the  survival  of  the  fittest,  we  have  only  one  possible  alter- 
native, and  that  is  the  survival  of  the  unfittest.  The  former 
is  the  law  of  civilization;  the  latter  is  the  law  of  anti- 
civilization.  We  have  our  choice  between  the  two,  or  we 
can  go  on,  as  in  the  past,  vacillating  between  the  two,  but 
a  third  plan  —  the  socialist  desideratum  —  a  plan  for 
nourishing  the  unfittest  and  yet  advancing  in  civilization, 
no  man  will  ever  find.  Some  of  the  crude  notions,  however, 
which  have  been  put  forward  surpass  what  might  reason- 
ably have  been  expected.  These  have  attached  themselves 
to  branches  of  the  subject  which  it  is  worth  while  to  notice. 
-  1.  As  the  change  in  the  relative  value  of  the  precious 
metals  is  by  far  the  most  difficult  and  most  important  of 
the  features  of  this  period,  it  is  quite  what  we  might  have 
expected  that  the  ill-trained  and  dilettante  writers  should 
have  pounced  upon  it  as  their  special  prey.  The  dabblers 
in  philology  never  attempt  anything  less  than  the  problem 
of  the  origin  of  language.  Every  teacher  knows  that  he 
has  to  guard  his  most  enthusiastic  pupils  against  precipi- 
tate attempts  to  solve  the  most  abstruse  difficulties  of  the 
science.  The  change  in  the  value  of  the  precious  metals 
which  is  going  on  will  no  doubt  figure  in  history  as  one  of 


226     THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

the  most  important  events  in  the  economic  history  of  this 
century.  It  will  undoubtedly  cost  much  inconvenience  and 
loss  to  those  who  are  in  the  way  of  it,  or  who  get  in  the  way 
of  it.  It  will,  when  the  currency  changes  connected  with  it 
are  accomplished,  prove  a  great  gain  to  the  whole  commer- 
cial world.  The  nations  which  make  the  change  do  so 
because  it  is  important  for  their  interests  to  do  it.  Now, 
suppose  that  it  were  possible  for  those  who  are  frightened 
at  the  immediate  and  temporary  inconveniences,  to  arrest 
the  movement  —  the  only  consequence  would  be  that  they 
would  arrest  and  delay  the  inevitable  march  of  improve- 
ment in  the  industrial  system. 

2.  The  second  field,  which  is  an  especial  favorite  with 
the  class  of  writers  which  I  have  described,  is  that  of  prog- 
nostications as  to  what  developments  of  the  economic 
system  lie  in  the  future.  Probably  every  one  has  notions 
about  this  and  every  one  who  has  to  conduct  business  or 
make  investments  is  forced  to  form  judgments  about  it. 
There  is  hardly  a  field  of  economic  speculation,  however, 
which  is  more  barren. 

3.  The  third  field  into  which  these  writers  venture  by 
preference  is  that  of  remedies  for  existing  troubles.  The 
popular  tide  of  medicine  is  always  therapeutics,  and  the 
less  one  knows  of  anatomy  and  physiology  the  more  sure 
he  is  to  address  himself  exclusively  to  this  department, 
and  to  rely  upon  empirical  remedies.  The  same  procedure 
is  followed  in  social  science,  and  it  is  accompanied  by  the 
same  contempt  for  scientific  doctrine  and  knowledge  and 
remedies.  To  bring  out  the  points  which  here  seem  to  me 
important,  it  will  be  necessary  to  go  back  for  a  moment 
to  some  facts  which  I  have  already  described. 

One  of  the  chief  characteristics  of  the  great  improvements 
in  industry,  which  have  been  described,  is  that  they  bring 
about  new  distributions  of  population.  If  machinery  dis- 
places laborers  engaged  in  manufactures,  these  laborers  are 


COMMERCIAL  CRISES  227 

driven  to  small  shopkeeping,  if  they  have  a  little  capital; 
or  to  agricultural  labor,  if  they  have  no  capital.  Improve- 
ments in  commerce  will  destroy  a  local  industry  and  force 
the  laborers  to  find  a  new  mdustry  or  to  change  their  abode. 
AMien  forces  of  this  character  cooperate  on  a  grand  scale, 
they  may  and  do  produce  very  important  redistributions 
of  population.  In  like  manner  legislation  may,  as  tariff 
legislation  does,  draw  population  to  certain  places,  and  its 
repeal  may  force  them  to  unwelcome  change.  We  may 
state  the  fact  in  this  way:  let  us  suppose  that,  in  1850, 
out  of  every  hundred  laborers  in  the  population,  the  eco- 
nomical distribution  was  such  that  fifty  should  be  engaged 
in  agriculture,  thirty  in  manufacturing,  and  the  other 
twenty  in  other  pursuits.  That  is  to  say  that,  with  the 
machinery  and  appliances  then  available,  thirty  manu- 
facturing laborers  could  use  the  raw  materials  and  food 
produced  by  fifty  agricultural  laborers  so  as  to  occupy  all 
to  the  highest  advantage.  Now  suppose  that,  by  improve- 
ments in  the  arts,  twenty  men  could,  in  1880,  use  to  the 
best  advantage  the  raw  materials  and  food  produced  by 
sixty  in  agriculture.  It  is  evident  that  a  redistribution 
would  be  necessary  by  which  ten  should  be  turned  from 
manufacturing  to  land.  That  such  a  change  has  been  pro- 
duced within  the  last  thirty  years  and  that  it  has  reached 
a  point  at  which  is  setting  in  the  counter  movement  to  the 
former  tendency  from  the  land  to  the  cities  and  towns, 
seems  to  me  certain.  There  are  even  indications  of  great 
changes  going  on  in  the  matter  of  distribution  which  will 
correct  the  loss  and  waste  involved  in  the  old  methods  of 
distribution  long  before  any  of  the  fancy  plans  for  correct- 
ing them  can  be  realized,  and  which  are  setting  free  both 
labor  and  capital  in  that  department.  Now  if  we  can 
economize  labor  and  capital  in  manufacturing,  transporta- 
tion, and  distribution,  and  turn  this  labor  and  capital  back 
upon  the  soil,  we  must  vastly  increase  wealth,  for  that 


228    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

movement  would  enlarge  the  stream  of  wealth  from  its 
very  source. 

Right  here,  however,  we  need  to  make  two  observations. 

1.  The  modern  industrial  system  which  I  have  described, 
with  its  high  organization  and  fine  division  of  labor,  has  one 
great  drawback.  The  men,  or  groups  of  men,  are  dissev- 
ered from  one  another,  their  interests  are  often  antagonis- 
tic, and  the  changes  which  occur  take  the  form  of  conflicts 
of  interest.  I  mean  this:  if  a  shoemaker  worked  alone, 
using  a  small  capital  of  his  own  in  tools  and  stock,  and 
working  for  orders,  he  would  have  directly  before  him 
the  facts  of  the  market.  He  would  find  out  without  effort 
or  reflection  when  "trade  fell  off,"  when  there  was  risk  of 
not  replacing  his  capital,  when  the  course  of  fashion  or 
competition  called  upon  him  to  find  other  occupation,  and 
so  on.  When  a  journeyman  shoemaker  works  for  wages, 
he  pays  no  heed  to  these  things.  The  employer,  feeling 
them,  has  no  recourse  but  to  lower  wages.  It  is  by  this 
measure  that,  under  the  higher  organization,  the  need  of 
new  energy,  or  of  a  change  of  industry,  or  of  a  change  of 
place  is  brought  home  to  the  workman.  To  him,  however, 
it  seems  an  arbitrary  and  cruel  act  of  the  master.  Hence 
follow  trade  wars  and  strikes  as  an  especial  phenomenon 
of  the  modern  system.  It  is  just  because  it  is  a  system,  or 
more  properly  still,  an  organism,  that  the  readjustments 
which  are  necessary  from  time  to  time  in  order  to  keep  its 
parts  in  harmonious  activity,  and  to  keep  it  in  harmony 
with  physical  surroundings,  are  brought  about  through  this 
play  of  the  parts  on  each  other. 

2.  A  general  movement  of  labor  and  capital  towards  land, 
throughout  the  civilized  world,  means  a  great  migration 
towards  the  new  countries.  This  does  not  by  any  means 
imply  the  abandonment  or  decay  of  older  countries,  as 
some  have  seemed  to  believe.  On  the  contrary,  it  means 
new  prosperity  for  them.     When  I  read  that  the  United 


COMMERCIAL  CRISES  229 

States  are  about  to  feed  the  world,  not  only  with  wheat 
and  provisions,  but  with  meat  also,  that  they  are  to  fur- 
nish coal  and  iron  to  mankind,  that  they  are  to  displace  all 
the  older  countries  as  exporters  of  manufactures,  that  they 
are  to  furnish  the  world's  supply  of  the  precious  metals, 
and  I  know  not  what  all  besides,  I  am  forced  to  ask  what 
is  the  rest  of  the  world  going  to  do  for  us?    What  are  they 
to  give  us  besides  tea,  coffee,  and  sugar?     Not  ships,  for 
we  will  not  take  them  and  are  ambitious  to  carry  away  all 
our  products  ourselves.    Certainly  this  is  the  most  remark- 
able absurdity  into  which  we  have  been  led  by  forgetting 
that  trade  is  an  exchange.     Neither  can  any  one  well  ex- 
pect that  all  mankind  are  to  come  and  live  here.    The  con- 
ditions of  a  large  migration  do,  however,  seem  to  exist.    A 
migration  of  population  is  still  a  very  unpopular  idea   in 
all  the  older  states.     The  prejudice  against  it  is  apparent 
amongst   Liberals   and   Tories,   economists   and   sentimen- 
tahsts.     There  is,  however,   a  condition  which  is  always 
suppressed  in  stating  the  social  problem  as  it  presents  itseff 
in  hard  times.     That  problem,  as  stated,  is:  "How  are  the 
population  to  find  means  of  support?"  and  the  suppressed 
condition  is:  "if  they  insist  on  staying  and  seeking  support 
where  they  are  and  in  pursuits  to  which  they  are   accus- 
tomed."   The  hardships  of  change  are  not  for  one  moment 
to  be  denied,  but  nothing  is  gained  by  sitting  down  to  whine 
about  them.    The  sentimental  reasons  for  clinging  to  one's 
birthplace  may  be  allowed  full  weight,  but  they  cannot  be 
allowed  to  counterbalance  important  advantages.    I  do  not 
see  that  any  but  land  owners  are  interested  to  hold  popula- 
tion m  certain  places,  unless  possibly  we  add  governing 
classes  and  those  who  want  military  power.     When  I  read 
declamations    about    nationality    and    the    importance    of 
national  divisions  to  political  economy  (observe  that  I  do 
not  say  to  political  science),  I  never  can  find  any  sense  in 
them,  and  1  am  very  sure  that  the  writers  never  put  any 
sense  into  them. 


230    THE  FORGOTTEN   MAN  AND   OTHER   ESSAYS 

We  may  now  return  to  consider  the  remedies  proposed 
for  hard  times.  We  shall  see  that  although  they  are  quack 
remedies,  and  although  they  set  at  defiance  all  the  eco- 
nomic doctrines  which  have  been  so  laboriously  established 
during  the  last  century,  they  are  fitted  to  meet  the  diffi- 
culty as  it  presents  itself  to  land  owners,  governments, 
military  powers,  socialists,  and  sentimentalists.  The  tend- 
ency is  towards  an  industrial  system  controlled  by  a 
natural  cooperation  far  grander  than  anybody  has  ever 
planned,  towards  a  community  of  interest  and  welfare  far 
more  beneficent  than  any  universal  republic  or  fraternity 
of  labor  which  the  Internationalists  hope  for,  and  towards 
a  free  and  peaceful  rivalry  amongst  nations  in  the  arts  of 
civilization.  It  is  necessary  to  stop  this  tendency.  What 
are  the  means  proposed? 

1.  The  first  is  to  put  a  limit  to  civil  liberty.  By  civil 
liberty  (for  I  feel  at  once  the  need  of  defining  this  much- 
abused  word)  I  mean  the  status  which  is  created  for  an 
individual  by  those  institutions  which  guarantee  him  the 
use  of  his  own  powers  for  his  own  development.  For  three 
or  four  centuries  now,  the  civilized  world  has  been  strug- 
gling towards  the  realization  of  this  civil  liberty.  Progress 
towards  it  has  been  hindered  by  the  notion  that  liberty 
was  some  vague  abstraction,  or  an  emancipation  from  some 
of  the  hard  conditions  of  human  life,  from  which  men  never 
can  be  emancipated  while  they  live  on  this  earth.  Civil 
liberty  has  also  been  confused  with  political  activity  or 
share  in  civil  government.  Political  activity  itself,  how- 
ever, is  only  a  means  to  an  end,  and  is  valuable  because  it 
is  necessary  to  secure  to  the  individual  free  exercise  of  his 
powers  to  produce  and  exchange  according  to  his  own  choice 
and  his  own  conception  of  happiness,  and  to  secure  him 
also  that  the  products  of  his  labor  shall  be  applied  to  his 
satisfaction  and  not  to  that  of  any  others.  When  we  come 
to  understand  civil  liberty  for  what  it  is,  we  shall  probably 


COMMERCIAL  CRISES  231 

go  forward  to  realize  it  more  completely.  It  will  then 
appear  that  it  begins  and  ends  with  freedom  of  production, 
freedom  of  exchange,  and  security  of  property.  It  will 
then  appear  also  that  governments  depart  from  their  prime 
and  essential  function  when  they  undertake  to  transfer 
property  instead  of  securing  it,  and  it  may  then  be  under- 
stood that  legal  tender  laws,  and  protective  tariffs  as 
amongst  the  last  and  most  ingenious  devices  for  transferring 
one  man's  product  to  another  man's  use,  are  gross  viola- 
tions of  civil  liberty.  At  present  the  attempt  is  being 
made  to  decry  liberty,  to  magnify  the  blunders  and  errors 
of  men  in  the  pursuit  of  happiness  into  facts  which  should 
be  made  the  basis  of  generalizations  about  the  functions 
of  government,  and  to  present  the  phenomena  of  the  com- 
mercial crisis  as  reasons  for  putting  industry  once  more  in 
leading  strings.  It  is  only  a  new  foe  with  an  old  face.  Those 
who  have  held  the  leading  strings  of  industry  in  time  past 
have  always  taken  rich  pay  for  their  services,  and  they  will 
do  it  again. 

2.  The  second  form  of  remedy  proposed  is  quite  con- 
sistent with  the  last.  It  consists  in  rehabilitating  the  old 
and  decaying  superstition  of  government.  It  is  called 
the  state,  and  all  kinds  of  poetical  and  fanciful  attributes 
are  ascribed  to  it.  It  is  presented,  of  course,  as  a  superior 
power,  able  and  ready  to  get  us  out  of  trouble.  If  an  in- 
dividual is  in  trouble,  he  has  to  help  himself  or  secure  the 
help  of  friends  as  best  he  can,  but  if  a  group  of  persons  are 
in  trouble  together,  they  constitute  a  party,  a  power,  and 
begin  to  make  themselves  felt  in  the  state.  The  state 
has  no  means  of  helping  them  except  by  enabling  them  to 
throw  the  risks  and  losses  of  their  business  upon  other  people 
who  already  have  the  burdens  and  losses  of  their  own 
business  to  bear,  but  who  are  less  well  organized.  The 
"state"  assumes  to  judge  what  is  for  the  public  interest  and 
imposes  taxes  or  interferes  with  contracts  to  force  individuals 


232    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

to  the  course  which  will  realize  what  it  has  set  before  itself. 
When,  however,  all  the  fine  phrases  are  stripped  away, 
it  appears  that  the  state  is  only  a  group  of  men  with  human 
interests,  passions,  and  desires,  or,  worse  yet,  the  state  is, 
as  somebody  has  said,  only  an  obscure  clerk  hidden  in  some 
corner  of  a  governmental  bureau.  In  either  case  the 
assumption  of  superhuman  wisdom  and  vu'tue  is  proved 
false.  The  state  is  only  a  part  of  the  organization  of 
society  in  and  for  itself.  That  organization  secures  certain 
interests  and  provides  for  certain  functions  which  are 
important  but  which  would  otherwise  be  neglected.  The 
task  of  society,  however,  has  always  been  and  is  yet,  to 
secure  this  organization,  and  yet  to  prevent  the  man  in 
whose  hands  public  power  must  at  last  be  lodged  from 
using  it  to  plunder  the  governed — that  is,  to  destroy  liberty. 
This  is  what  despots,  oligarchs,  aristocrats,  and  democrats 
always  have  done,  and  the  latest  development  is  only  a 
new  form  of  the  old  abuse.  The  abuses  have  always  been 
perpetrated  in  the  name  of  the  public  interest.  It  was  for 
the  public  interest  to  support  the  throne  and  the  altar. 
It  was  for  the  public  interest  to  sustain  privileged  classes, 
to  maintain  an  established  church,  standing  armies,  and 
the  passport  and  police  system.  Now,  it  is  for  the  public 
interest  to  have  certain  industries  carried  on,  and  the  holders 
of  the  state  power  apportion  their  favor  without  rule  or 
reason,  without  responsibility,  and  without  any  return 
service.  In  the  end,  therefore,  the  high  function  of  the 
state  to  regulate  the  industrial  organization  in  the  public 
interest  is  simply  that  the  governing  group  interferes  to 
make  some  people  give  the  products  of  their  labor  to  other 
people  to  use  and  enjoy.  Every  one  sees  the  evils  of  the 
state  meddling  with  his  own  business  and  thinks  that  he 
ought  to  be  let  alone  in  it,  but  he  sees  great  public  interests 
which  would  be  served  if  the  state  would  interfere  to  make 
other  people  do  what  he  wants  to  have  them  do. 


COMMERCIAL  CRISES  233 

Now  if  these  two  measures  could  be  carried  out  —  if 
liberty  could  be  brought  into  misapprehension  and  con- 
tempt, and  if  the  state-superstition  could  be  saved  from 
the  decay  to  which  it  is  doomed,  the  movements  of  popu- 
lation and  the  changes  in  industry,  commerce,  and  finance, 
could  be  arrested.  The  condemnation  of  all  such  projects 
is,  once  and  for  all,  that  they  would  arrest  the  march  of  civili- 
zation. The  joy  and  the  fears  which  have  been  aroused  on 
one  side  and  on  the  other  by  the  reactionary  propositions 
which  have  been  made  during  the  last  five  years  are  both 
greatly  exaggerated.  Such  reactionary  propositions  are  in 
the  nature  of  things  at  such  a  time.  It  must  be  expected 
that  the  pressure  of  distress  and  disappointed  hopes  will 
produce  passionate  reaction  and  senseless  outcries.  From 
such  phenomena  to  actual  practical  measures  is  a  long  step. 
Every  step  towards  practical  realization  of  any  reactionary 
measures  will  encounter  new  and  multiplying  obstacles. 
A  war  of  tariffs  at  this  time  would  so  fly  in  the  face  of  all 
the  tendencies  of  commerce  and  industry  that  it  would 
only  hasten  the  downfall  of  all  tariffs.  Purely  retaliatory 
tariffs  are  a  case  of  what  the  children  call  "cutting  off  your 
nose  to  spite  your  face."  Some  follies  have  become  physically 
impossible  for  great  nations  nowadays.  Germany  has  been 
afflicted:  first,  by  too  eager  hopes,  second,  by  the  great 
calamity  of  too  many  and  top  pedantic  doctors,  third, 
by  a  declining  revenue,  and  fourth,  by  socialistic  agitation 
amongst  the  new  electors.  It  appears  that  she  is  about  to 
abandon  the  free-trade  policy  although  she  does  not  embrace 
protection  with  much  vigor.  The  project  already  comes  in 
conflict  with  numerous  and  various  difficulties  which  had 
not  been  foreseen,  and,  in  its  execution,  it  must  meet  with 
many  more.  The  result  remains  to  be  studied.  France 
finds  that  the  expiration  of  each  treaty  of  commerce  pro- 
duces consequences  upon  her  industry  which  are  unendur- 
able, and  while  the  task  of  adjusting  rival  and  contending 


234     THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

interests  so  as  to  create  a  new  system  drags  along,  she  is 
compelled  to  ward  off,  by  temporary  arrangements,  the 
revival  of  the  general  tariff  which  the  treaties  had  super- 
seded. In  the  meantime  her  economists,  who  are  the  most 
sober  and  the  best  trained  in  the  world,  are  opening  a 
a  vigorous  campaign  on  the  general  issue.  If  England 
should  think  of  reviving  protection,  she  would  not  know 
what  to  protect.  If  she  wanted  to  retaliate,  she  could  only 
tax  raw  materials  and  food.  The  proposition,  as  soon  as  it  is 
reduced  to  practical  form,  has  no  footing.  As  for  ourselves 
we  know  that  our  present  protective  system  never  could 
have  been  fastened  upon  us  if  it  had  not  been  concealed 
under  the  war  legislation,  and  if  its  effects  had  not  been 
confused  with  those  of  the  war.  It  could  not  last  now  if 
the  public  mind  could  be  freed  from  its  absorption  in  sec- 
tional politics,  so  that  it  would  be  at  liberty  to  turn  to  this 
subject. 

In  conclusion,  let  me  refer  again  to  another  important 
subject  on  which  I  have  touched  in  this  paper  —  what  we 
call  the  silver  question.  It  would,  no  doubt,  be  in  the  power 
of  civilized  nations  to  take  some  steps  which  would  alle- 
viate the  inconveniences  connected  with  the  transition  of 
several  important  nations  from  a  silver  to  a  gold  currency. 
For  one  nation,  wliich  has  no  share  in  the  trouble  at  all, 
to  come  forward  out  of  "magnanimity"  or  any  other  motive 
to  save  the  world  from  the  troubles  incident  to  this  step, 
is  quixotic  and  ridiculous.  It  might  properly  leave  those 
who  are  in  the  trouble  to  deal  with  it  amongst  themselves. 
Either  they  or  all  might,  however,  do  much  to  modify  the 
effects  of  the  change.  The  effort  to  bring  about  an  inter- 
national union  to  establish  a  bimetallic  currency  at  a  fixed 
ratio  is  quite  another  thing.  It  will  stand  in  the  history 
of  our  time  as  the  most  singular  folly  which  has  gained 
any  important  adherence.  As  a  practical  measure  the 
international  union  is  simply  impossible.     As  a  scientific 


COMMERCIAL  CRISES  235 

proposition,  bimetallism  is  as  absurd  as  perpetual  motion. 
It  proposes  to  establish  perpetual  rest  in  the  fluctuations 
of  value  of  two  commodities,  to  do  which  it  must  extinguish 
the  economic  forces  of  supply  and  demand  of  those  com- 
modities upon  which  value  depends.  The  movement  of 
the  great  commercial  nations  towards  a  single  gold  currency 
is  the  most  important  event  in  the  monetary  history  of  our 
time,  and  one  which  nothing  can  possibly  arrest.  It  produces 
temporary  distress,  and  the  means  of  alleviating  that 
distress  are  a  proper  subject  of  consideration;  but  the  advan- 
tages which  will  be  obtained  for  all  time  to  come  immeasur- 
ably surpass  the  present  loss  and  inconvenience. 

I  return,  then,  to  the  propositions  with  which  I  set  out. 
Feebleness  and  vacillation  in  regard  to  economic  doctrine 
are  natural  to  a  period  of  commercial  crisis,  on  account  of 
the  distress,  uncertainty,  and  disorder  which  then  prevail  in 
industry  and  trade;  but  that  is  just  the  time  also  when 
a  tenacious  grasp  of  scientific  principles  is  of  the  highest 
importance.  The  human  race  must  go  forward  to  meet 
and  conquer  its  problems  and  difficulties  as  they  arise,  to 
bear  the  penalties  of  its  follies,  and  to  pay  the  price  of  its 
acquisitions.  To  shrink  from  this  is  simply  to  go  back 
and  to  abandon  civilization.  The  path  forward,  as  far 
as  any  human  foresight  can  now  reach,  lies  in  a  better  under- 
standing and  a  better  realization  of  liberty,  under  which 
individuals  and  societies  can  work  out  their  destiny,  subject 
only  to  the  incorruptible  laws  of  nature. 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  STRIKES 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  STRIKES » 

THE  progress  in  material  comfort  which  has  been 
made  during  the  last  hundred  years  has  not  produced 
content.  Quite  the  contrary:  the  men  of  to-day  are  not 
nearly  so  contented  with  life  on  earth  as  their  ancestors 
were.  This  observation  is  easily  explainable  by  familiar 
facts  in  human  nature.  If  satisfaction  does  not  reach  to 
the  pitch  of  satiety,  it  does  not  produce  content,  but  dis- 
content; it  is  therefore  a  stimulus  to  more  effort,  and  is 
essential  to  growth.  If,  however,  we  confine  our  study  of 
the  observation  which  we  have  made  to  its  sociological 
aspects,  we  perceive  that  all  which  we  call  ''progress"  is 
limited  by  the  counter-movements  which  it  creates,  and 
we  also  see  the  true  meaning  of  the  phenomena  which  have 
led  some  to  the  crude  and  silly  absurdity  that  progress 
makes  us  worse  off.  Progress  certainly  does  not  make 
people  happier,  unless  their  mental  and  moral  growth 
corresponds  to  the  greater  command  of  material  comfort 
which  they  win.  All  that  we  call  progress  is  a  simple  en- 
largement of  chances,  and  the  question  of  personal  happiness 
is  a  question  of  how  the  chances  will  be  used.  It  follows  that 
if  men  do  not  grow  in  their  knowledge  of  life  and  in  their 
intelligent  judgment  of  the  rules  of  right  living  as  rapidly 
as  they  gain  control  over  physical  resources,  they  will  not 
win  happiness  at  all.  They  will  simply  accumulate  chances 
which  they  do  not  know  how  to  use. 

The  observation  which  has  just  been  made  about  indi- 
vidual happiness  has  also  a  public  or  social  aspect  which 
is  important.     It  is  essential  that  the  political  institutions, 

^  Harper's  Weekly,  September  15,  1883 
239 


240    THE  FORGOTTEN   MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

the  social  code,  and  the  accepted  notions  which  constitute 
pubhc  opinion  should  develop  in  equal  measure  with  the 
increase  of  power  over  nature.  The  penalty  of  failure  to 
maintain  due  proportion  between  the  popular  philosophy 
of  life  and  the  increase  of  material  comfort  will  be  social 
convulsions,  which  will  arrest  civilization  and  will  subject 
the  human  race  to  such  a  reaction  toward  barbarism  as 
that  which  followed  the  fall  of  the  Roman  Empire.  It 
is  easy  to  see  that  at  the  present  moment  our  popular 
philosophy  of  life  is  all  in  confusion.  The  old  codes  are 
breaking  down;  new  ones  are  not  yet  made;  and  even 
amongst  people  of  standing,  to  whom  we  must  look  to 
establish  the  body  of  public  opinion,  we  hear  the  most 
contradictory  and  heterogeneous  doctrines  about  life  and 
society. 

The  growth  of  the  United  States  has  done  a  great  deal 
to  break  up  the  traditional  codes  and  creeds  which  had 
been  adopted  in  Europe.  The  civilized  world  being  divided 
into  two  parts,  one  old  and  densely  populated  and  the  other 
new  and  thinly  populated,  social  phenomena  have  been, 
produced  which,  although  completely  covered  by  the  same 
laws  of  social  force,  have  appeared  to  be  contradictory. 
The  effect  has  been  to  disturb  and  break  up  the  faith  of 
philosophers  and  students  in  the  laws,  and  to  engender 
numberless  fallacies  amongst  those  who  are  not  careful 
students.  The  popular  judgment  especially  has  been  dis- 
ordered and  misled.  The  new  country  has  offered  such 
chances  as  no  generation  of  men  has  ever  had  before.  It 
has  not,  however,  enabled  any  man  to  live  without  work, 
or  to  keep  capital  without  thrift  and  prudence;  it  has  not 
enabled  a  man  to  "rise  in  the  world"  from  a  position  of 
ignorance  and  poverty,  and  at  the  same  time  to  marry 
early,  spend  freely,  and  bring  up  a  large  family  of  children. 

The  men  of  this  generation,  therefore,  without  distinc- 
tion of  class,  and  with  only  individual  exceptions,  suffer 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  STRIKES  241 

from  the  discontent  of  an  appetite  excited  by  a  taste  of 
luxury,  but  held  far  below  satiety.  The  power  to  appre- 
ciate a  remote  future  good,  in  comparison  with  a  present  one, 
is  a  distinguishing  mark  of  highly  civilized  men,  but  if  it 
is  not  combined  with  powers  of  persevering  industry 
and  self-denial,  it  degenerates  into  mere  day-dreaming  and 
the  diseases  of  an  overheated  imagination.  If  any  number 
of  persons  are  of  this  character,  we  have  morbid  discontent 
and  romantic  ambition  as  social  traits.  Our  literature, 
especially  our  fiction,  bears  witness  to  the  existence  of 
classes  who  are  corrupted  by  these  diseases  of  character. 
We  find  classes  of  persons  who  are  whining  and  fault-finding, 
and  who  use  the  organs  of  public  discussion  and  deliberation 
in  order  to  put  forth  childish  complaints  and  impossible 
demands,  while  they  philosophize  about  life  like  the  Arabian 
Nights.  Of  course  this  whole  tone  of  thought  and  mode 
of  behavior  is  as  far  as  possible  from  the  sturdy  manliness 
which  meets  the  problems  of  life  and  wins  victories  as  much 
by  what  it  endures  as  by  what  it  conquers. 

Our  American  life,  by  its  ease,  exerts  another  demor- 
alizing efl^ect  on  a  great  many  of  us.  Hundreds  of  our 
young  people  grow  up  without  any  real  discipline;  life 
is  made  easy  for  them,  and  their  tastes  and  wishes  are 
consulted  too  much;  they  grow  to  maturity  with  the  notion 
that  they  ought  to  find  the  world  only  pleasant  and  easy. 
Every  one  knows  this  type  of  young  person,  who  wants  to 
find  an  occupation  which  he  would  "like,"  and  who  dis- 
cusses the  drawbacks  of  difiiculty  or  disagreeableness  in 
anything  which  offers.  The  point  here  referred  to  is,  of 
course,  entirely  different  from  another  and  still  more  lamen- 
table fact,  that  is,  the  terrible  inefficiency  and  incapability 
of  a  great  many  of  the  people  who  are  complaining  and 
begging.  If  any  one  wants  a  copyist,  he  will  be  more 
saddened  than  annoyed  by  the  overwhelming  applications 
for  the  position.     The  advertisements  which  are  to  be  found 


242    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

in  the  newspapers  of  widest  circulation,  offering  a  genteel 
occupation  to  be  carried  on  at  home,  not  requiring  any 
previous  training,  by  which  two  or  three  dollars  a  day  may 
be  earned,  are  a  proof  of  the  existence  of  a  class  to  which 
they  appeal.  How  many  thousand  people  in  the  United 
States  want  just  that  kind  of  employment!  What  a  beauti- 
ful world  this  would  be  if  there  were  any  such  employment! 

Then,  again,  our  social  ambition  is  often  silly  and  mis- 
chievous. Our  young  people  despise  the  occupations  which 
involve  physical  effort  or  dirt,  and  they  struggle  "up" 
(as  we  have  agreed  to  call  it)  into  all  the  nondescript  and 
irregular  employments  which  are  clean  and  genteel.  Our 
orators  and  poets  talk  about  the  "dignity  of  labor,"  and 
neither  they  nor  we  believe  in  it.  Leisure,  not  labor,  is 
dignified.  Nearly  all  of  us,  however,  have  to  sacrifice  our 
dignity,  and  labor,  and  it  would  be  to  the  purpose  if,  instead 
of  declamation  about  dignity,  we  should  learn  to  respect, 
in  ourselves  and  each  other,  work  which  is  good  of  its  kind, 
no  matter  what  the  kind  is.  To  spoil  a  good  shoemaker 
in  order  to  make  a  bad  parson  is  surely  not  going  "up"; 
and  a  man  who  digs  well  is  by  all  sound  criteria  superior 
to  the  man  who  writes  ill.  Everybody  who  talks  to 
American  schoolboys  thinks  that  he  does  them  and  his 
country  service  if  he  reminds  them  that  each  one  of  them 
has  a  chance  to  be  President  of  the  United  States,  and  our 
literature  is  all  the  time  stimulating  the  same  kind  of  sense- 
less social  ambition,  instead  of  inculcating  the  code  and  the 
standards  which  should  be  adopted  by  orderly,  sober,  and 
useful  citizens. 

The  consequences  of  the  observations  which  have  now 
been  grouped  together  are  familiar  to  us  all.  Population 
tends  from  the  country  to  the  city.  Mechanical  and 
technical  occupations  are  abandoned,  and  those  occu- 
pations which  are  easy  and  genteel  are  overcrowded.  Of 
course  the  persons  in  question  must  be  allowed  to  take  their 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  STRIKES  243 

own  choice,  and  seek  their  own  happiness  in  their  own  way, 
but  it  is  inevitable  that  thousands  of  them  should  be  dis- 
appointed and  suffer.  If  the  young  men  abandon  farms 
and  trades  to  become  clerks  and  bookkeepers,  the  conse- 
quence will  be  that  the  remuneration  of  the  crowded 
occupations  will  fall,  and  that  of  the  neglected  occupations 
will  rise;  if  the  young  women  refuse  to  do  housework,  and 
go  into  shops,  stores,  telegraph  offices  and  schools,  the 
wages  of  the  crowded  occupations  will  fall,  while  those  of 
domestic  servants  advance.  If  women  in  seeking  occu- 
pation try  to  gain  admission  to  some  business  like  tele- 
graphing, in  competition  with  men,  they  will  bid  under  the 
men.  Similar  effects  would  be  produced  if  a  leisure  class 
in  an  old  country  should  be  compelled  by  some  social 
convulsion  to  support  themselves.  They  would  run  down 
the  compensation  for  labor  in  the  few  occupations  which 
they  could   enter. 

Now  the  question  is  raised  whether  there  is  any  remedy 
for  the  low  wages  of  the  crowded  occupations,  and  the 
question  answers  itself:  there  is  no  remedy  except  not  to 
continue  the  causes  of  the  evil.  To  strike,  that  is,  to  say 
that  the  workers  will  not  work  in  their  chosen  line,  yet 
that  they  will  not  leave  it  for  some  other  line,  is  simply 
suicide.  Neither  can  any  amount  of  declamation,  nor  even 
of  law-making,  force  a  man  who  owns  a  business  to  submit 
the  control  of  it  to  a  man  who  does  not  own  it.  The  teleg- 
raphers have  an  occupation  which  requires  training  and 
skill,  but  it  is  one  which  is  very  attractive  in  many  respects 
to  those  who  seek  manual  occupation;  it  is  also  an  occu- 
pation which  is  very  suitable,  at  least  in  many  of  its  branches, 
for  women.  The  occupation  is  therefore  capable  of  a 
limited  monopoly.  The  demand  that  women  should  be 
paid  equally  with  men  is,  on  the  face  of  it,  just,  biit  its  real 
effect  would  be  to  keep  women  out  of  the  business.  It 
was   often   said   during  the  telegraphers'   strike  that  the 


244     THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER   ESSAYS 

demand  of  the  strikers  was  just,  because  their  wages  were 
less  than  those  of  artisans.  The  argument  has  no  force  at 
all.  The  only  question  was  whether  the  current  wages 
for  telegraphing  were  sufficient  to  bring  out  an  adequate 
supply  of  telegraphers.  If  the  growing  boys  prefer  to  be 
artisans,  the  wages  of  telegraphers  will  rise.  If,  even  at 
present  rates,  boys  and  girls  continue  to  prefer  telegraphing 
to  handicraft  or  housework,  the  wages  of  telegraphers  will 
fall.  Could,  then,  a  strike  advance  at  a  blow  the  wages 
of  all  who  are  now  telegraphers?  There  was  only  one 
reason  to  hope  so,  and  that  was  that  the  monopoly  of  the 
trade  might  prove  stringent  enough  and  the  public  incon- 
venience great  enough  to  force  a  concession  —  which  would, 
however,  have  been  speedily  lost  again  by  an  increased 
supply  of  telegraphers. 

Now  let  us  ask  what  the  state  of  the  case  would  be  if  it 
was  really  possible  for  the  telegraphers  to  make  a  successful 
strike.  They  have  a  very  close  monopoly;  six  years  ago 
they  nearly  arrested  the  transportation  of  the  country 
for  a  fortnight;  but  they  were  unable  to  effect  their  object. 
More  recently  the  freight-handlers  struck  against  the  com- 
petition of  a  new  influx  of  foreign  unskilled  laborers,  and 
in  vain.  The  printers  might  make  a  combination,  and  try 
to  force  an  advance  in  wages  by  arresting  the  publication 
of  all  the  newspapers  on  a  given  day,  but  there  are  so  many 
persons  who  could  set  type,  in  case  of  need,  that  such  an 
attempt  would  be  quite  hopeless.  In  any  branch  of  ordi- 
nary handicraft  there  would  be  no  possibility  of  creating  a 
working  monopoly  or  of  producing  a  great  public  calamity 
by  a  strike.  If  we  go  on  to  other  occupations  we  see  that 
bookkeepers,  clerks,  and  salesmen  could  not  as  a  body 
combine  and  strike;  much  less  could  teachers  do  so;  still 
less  could  household  servants  do  so.  Finally,  farmers  and 
other  independent  workers  could  not  do  it  at  all.  In  short, 
a  striker  is  a  man  who  says:   "I  mean  to  get  my  living  by 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  STRIKES  245 

doing  this  thing  and  no  other  thing  as  my  share  of  the  social 
effort,  and  I  do  not  mean  to  do  this  thing  except  on  such 
and  such  terms."  He  therefore  proposes  to  make  a  con- 
tract with  his  fellow-men  and  to  dictate  the  terms  of  it. 
Any  man  who  can  do  this  must  be  in  a  very  exceptional 
situation;  he  must  have  a  monopoly  of  the  service  in 
question,  and  it  must  be  one  of  which  his  fellow-men  have 
great  need.  If,  then,  the  telegraphers  could  have  suc- 
ceeded in  advancing  their  wages  fifteen  per  cent  simply 
because  they  had  agreed  to  ask  for  the  advance,  they  must 
have  been  far  better  off  than  any  of  the  rest  of  their  fellow- 
men. 

Our  fathers  taught  us  the  old  maxim:    Cut  your  coat 

according  to  your  cloth;    but  the  popular  discussions  of 

social  questions  seem  to  be  leading  up  to  a  new  maxim: 

Demand  your  cloth  according  to  your  coat.     The  fathers 

thought  that  a  man  in  this   world  must  do  the  best  he 

could  with  the  means  he  had,  and  that  good  training  and 

education    consisted    in    developing    skill,    sagacity,    and 

thrift   to  use   resources   economically;     the   new   doctrine 

seems  to  be  that  if  a  man  has  been  born  into  this  world  he 

should  make  up  his  mind  what  he  needs  here,  formulate  his 

demands,  and  present  them  to  "society"  or  to  the  "state." 

He  wants  congenial  and  easy  occupation,  and  good  pay  for 

it.     He  does  not  want  to  be  hampered  by  any  limitations 

such  as  come  from  a  world  in  which  wool  grows,  but  not 

coats;    in  which  iron  ore  is  found,  but  not  weapons   and 

tools;    in  which  the  ground  will  produce  wheat,  but  only 

after  hard  labor  and  self-denial;    in  which  we  cannot  eat 

our  cake  and  keep  it;  in  which  two  and  two  make  only  four. 

He  wants  to  be  guaranteed  a  "market,"  so  as  not  to  suffer 

from   "overproduction."     In  private  life  and  in  personal 

relations  we  already  estimate  this  way  of  looking  at  things 

at  its  true  value,  but  as  soon  as  we  are  called  upon  to  deal 

with  a  general  question,  or  a  phenomenon  of  industry  in 


246     THE  FORGOTTEN   MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

which  a  number  of  persons  are  interested,  we  adopt  an 
entirely  conventional  and  unsound  mode  of  discussion. 
The  sound  gospel  of  industry,  prudence,  painstaking,  and 
thrift  is,  of  course,  unpopular;  we  all  long  to  be  emancipated 
from  worry,  anxiety,  disappointment,  and  the  whole  train 
of  cares  which  fall  upon  us  as  we  work  our  way  through 
the  world.  Can  we  really  gain  anything  in  that  struggle 
by  organizing  for  a  battle  with  each  other?  This  is  the 
practical  question.  \s  there  any  ground  whatever  for 
believing  that  we  shall  come  to  anything,  by  pursuing  this 
line  of  effort,  which  will  be  of  any  benefit  to  anybody.'^ 
If  a  man  is  dissatisfied  with  his  position,  let  him  strive  to 
better  it  in  one  way  or  another  by  such  chances  as  he  can 
find  or  make,  and  let  him  inculcate  in  his  children  good 
habits  and  sound  notions,  so  that  they  may  live  wisely  and 
not  expose  themselves  to  hardship  by  error  or  folly;  but 
every  experiment  only  makes  it  more  clear  that  for  men  to 
band  together  in  order  to  carry  on  an  industrial  war,  instead 
of  being  a  remedy  for  disappointment  in  the  ratio  of  satis- 
faction to  effort,  is  only  a  way  of  courting  new  calamity. 


STRIKES  AND  THE  INDUSTRIAL 
ORGANIZATON 


STRIKES  AND  THE  INDUSTRIAL 
ORGANIZATION  1 

ANYONE  who  has  read  with  attention  the  current 
discussion  of  labor  topics  must  have  noticed  that 
writers  start  from  assumptions,  in  regard  to  the  doctrine 
of  wages,  which  are  as  divergent  as  notions  on  the  same 
subject-matter  well  can  be.  It  appears,  therefore,  that 
we  must  have  a  dogma  of  wages,  that  we  cannot  reason 
correctly  about  the  policy  or  the  rights  of  the  wages  system 
until  we  have  such  a  dogma,  and  that,  in  the  meantime, 
it  is  not  strange  that  confusion  and  absurdity  should  be 
the  chief  marks  of  discussion  carried  on  before  this  prime 
condition  is  fulfilled. 

Some  writers  assume  that  wages  can  be  raised  if  the 
prices  of  products  be  raised,  and  that  no  particular  diffi- 
culty would  be  experienced  in  raising  prices;  others  assume 
that  wages  could  be  raised  if  the  employers  would  be  satis- 
fied with  smaller  profits  for  themselves;  still  others  assume 
that  wages  could  be  raised  or  lowered  according  as  the 
cost  of  living  rises  or  falls.  These  are  common  and  popular 
assumptions,  and  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  controversies 
of  professional  economists  about  the  doctrine  of  wages. 
The  latter  are  a  disgrace  to  the  science,  and  have  the  especial 
evil  at  this  time  that  the  science  cannot  respond  to  the  chief 
demand  now  made  upon  it. 

If  the  employer  could  simply  add  any  increase  of  wages 
to  his  prices,  and  so  recoup  himself  at  the  expense  of  the 
consumer,  no  employer  would  hold  out  long  against  a 
strike.     Why  should  he?     Why  should  he  undertake  loss, 

*  Popular  Science  News,  JiJy,  1887. 
249 


250    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

worry,  and  war,  for  the  sake  of  the  consumers  behind  him? 
If  an  employer  need  only  submit  to  a  positive  and  measur- 
able curtailment  of  his  profits,  in  order  to  avoid  a  strike 
and  secure  peace,  it  is  probable  that  he  would  in  almost 
every  case  submit  to  it.  But  if  the  employees  should  de- 
mand five  per  cent  advance,  and  the  employer  should  grant 
it,  adding  so  much  to  his  prices,  they  would  naturally  and 
most  properly  immediately  demand  another  five  per  cent, 
to  be  charged  to  the  consumers  in  the  same  way.  There 
would  be  no  other  course  for  men  of  common  sense  to  pursue. 
They  would  repeat  this  process  until  at  some  point  or  other 
they  found  themselves  arrested  by  some  resistance  which 
they  could  not  overcome.  Similarly,  if  wages  could  be 
increased  at  the  expense  of  the  employer's  gains,  the 
employer  who  yielded  one  increase  would  have  to  yield 
another,  until  at  some  point  he  decided  to  refuse  and  re- 
sist. In  either  case,  where  and  what  would  the  limit  be.^* 
WTienever  the  point  was  reached  at  which  some  uncon- 
querable resistance  was  encountered,  the  task  of  the  econo- 
mist would  begin. 

There  is  no  rule  whatever  for  determining  the  share  which 
any  one  ought  to  get  out  of  the  distribution  of  products 
through  the  industrial  organization,  except  that  he  should 
get  all  that  the  market  will  give  him  in  return  for  what  he 
has  put  into  it.  Whenever,  therefore,  the  limit  is  reached, 
the  task  of  the  economist  is  to  find  out  the  conditions  by 
which  this  limit  is  determined. 

Now  it  is  the  character  of  the  modern  industrial  system 
that  it  becomes  more  and  more  impersonal  and  automatic 
under  the  play  of  social  forces  which  act  with  natm-al 
necessity;  the  system  could  not  exist  if  they  did  not  so 
act,  for  it  is  constructed  in  reliance  upon  their  action  accord- 
ing to  ascertainable  laws.  The  condition  of  all  social 
actions  and  reactions  is  therefore  set  in  the  nature  of  the 
forces  which  we  have  learned  to  know  on  other  fields  of 


STRIKES  AND   INDUSTRIAL  ORGANIZATION    251 

scientific  investigation,  and  which  are  different  here  only 
inasmuch  as  they  act  in  a  different  field  and  on  different 
material.  The  relations  of  parties,  therefore,  in  the  indus- 
trial organism  is  such  as  the  nature  of  the  case  permits. 
The  case  may  permit  of  a  variety  of  relations,  thus  pro- 
viding some  range  of  choice. 

A  person  who  comes  into  the  market,  therefore,  with 
something  to  sell,  cannot  raise  the  price  of  it  because  he 
wants  to  do  so,  or  because  his  "cost  of  production"  has 
been  raised.  He  has  already  pushed  the  market  to  the 
utmost,  and  raised  the  price  as  high  as  supply  and  demand 
would  allow,  so  as  to  w4n  as  large  profits  as  he  could.  How, 
then,  can  he  raise  it  further,  just  because  his  own  circum- 
stances make  it  desirable  for  him  so  to  do.?  If  the  market 
stands  so  that  he  can  raise  his  price,  he  will  do  it,  whether 
his  cost  of  production  has  increased  or  not.  Neither  can 
an  employer  reduce  his  own  profits  at  will;  he  will  imme- 
diately perceive  that  he  is  going  out  of  business,  and  dis- 
tributing his  capital  in  presents. 

The  difficulty  with  a  strike,  therefore,  is,  that  it  is  an 
attempt  to  move  the  whole  industrial  organization,  in  which 
all  the  parts  are  interdependent  and  intersupporting. 
It  is  not,  indeed,  impossible  to  do  this,  although  it  is  very 
difficult.  The  organization  has  a  great  deal  of  elasticity 
in  its  parts  —  an  aggressive  organ  can  win  something  at 
the  expense  of  others.  Everything  displaces  everything 
else;  but  if  force  enough  is  brought  to  bear,  a  general  dis- 
placement and  readjustment  may  be  brought  about.  An 
organ  which  has  been  suffering  from  the  aggression  of 
others  may  right  itself.  It  is  only  by  the  collision  of  social 
pressure,  constantly  maintained,  that  the  life  of  the  organ- 
ism is  kept  up,  and  its  forces  are  developed  to  their  full 
effect. 

Strikes  are  not  necessarily  connected  with  violence  to 
either  persons  or  property.     Violence  is  provided  for  by 


252    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

the  criminal  law.  Taking  strikes  by  themselves,  therefore, 
it  may  be  believed  that  they  are  not  great  evils;  they  are 
costly,  but  they  test  the  market.  Supply  and  demand  does 
not  mean  that  the  social  forces  will  operate  of  themselves; 
the  law,  as  laid  down,  assumes  that  every  party  will  struggle 
to  the  utmost  for  its  interests  —  if  it  does  not  do  so,  it  will 
lose  its  interests.  Buyers  and  sellers,  borrowers  and  lenders, 
landlords  and  tenants,  employers  and  employees,  and  all 
other  parties  to  contracts,  must  be  expected  to  develop 
their  interests  fully  in  the  competition  and  struggle  of 
life.  It  is  for  the  health  of  the  industrial  organization 
that  they  should  do  so.  The  other  social  interests  are  in 
the  constant  habit  of  testing  the  market,  in  order  to  get  all 
they  can  out  of  it.  A  strike,  rationally  begun  and  rationally 
conducted,  only  does  the  same  thing  for  the  wage-earning 
interest. 

The  facts  stare  us  plainly  in  the  face,  if  we  will  only 
look  at  them,  that  the  wages  of  the  employees  and  the 
price  of  the  products  have  nothing  to  do  with  each  other; 
that  the  wages  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  profits  of  the 
employer;  that  they  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  cost  of 
living  or  with  the  prosperity  of  the  business.  They  are 
really  governed  by  the  supply  and  demand  of  labor,  as 
every  strike  shows  us,  and  by  nothing  else. 

Turning  to  the  moral  relations  of  the  subject,  we  are 
constantly  exhorted  to  do  something  to  improve  the  re- 
lations of  employer  and  employee.  I  submit  that  the 
relation  in  life  which  has  the  least  bad  feeling  or  personal 
bitterness  in  it  is  the  pure  business  relation,  the  relation 
of  contract,  because  it  is  a  relation  of  bargain  and  consent 
and  equivalence.  WTiere  is  there  so  much  dissension  and 
bitterness  as  in  family  matters,  where  people  try  to  act 
by  sentiment  and  affection.'^  The  way  to  improve  the  re- 
lation of  employer  and  employee  is  not  to  get  sentiment 
into  it,  but  to  get  sentiment  out  of  it.     We  are  told  that 


STRIKES  AND   INDUSTRIAL  ORGANIZATION    253 

classes  are  becoming  more  separated,  and  that  the  poor 
are  learning  to  hate  the  rich,  although  there  was  a  time  when 
no  class  hatreds  existed.  I  have  sought  diligently  in  his- 
tory for  the  time  when  no  class  hatreds  existed  between  rich 
and  poor.  I  cannot  find  any  such  period,  and  I  make  bold 
to  say  that  no  one  can  point  to  it. 


TRUSTS  AND  TRADES-UNIONS 


TRUSTS  AND  TRADES-UNIONS  i 

I  HAVE  attempted  to  show,  in  foregoing  essays,^  what 
an  immense  role  is  played  by  monopoly  throughout 
the  whole  social  life  of  mankind  in  all  its  stages.  There 
would  not  be  any  struggle  for  existence  if  it  were  not  true 
that  the  supply  in  nature  of  the  things  necessary  for  human 
existence  is  niggardly.  The  struggle  for  existence  consists 
in  a  contest  against  the  constraints  by  which  human  life 
is  surrounded;  the  process  by  which  men  have  won  some- 
thing in  that  contest,  in  the  course  of  time,  has  consisted  in 
playing  off  one  of  nature's  monopolies  against  another  —  the 
process,  namely,  which  we  call  "employing  natural  agents." 
On  its  social  and  political  side,  the  advance  has  consisted 
in  securing  for  the  individual  a  chance  in  some  degree  to 
control  his  own  destiny;  not  to  be  at  the  sport  of  natural 
and  social  forces,  but  to  bring  his  own  energy  to  bear  to 
enlarge  his  own  conditions  of  enjoyment  and  survival. 

At  every  stage  of  history,  however,  the  natural  mo- 
nopolies have  formed  the  basis  of  social  and  political 
monopolies.  The  possession  of  those  powers  which,  under 
the  circumstances,  were  most  efficient  for  the  acquisition 
of  "what  men  want  has  always  given  superiority  and  domin- 
ion in  human  society,  whether  those  powers  were  physical 
force,  beauty,  learning,  virtue,  capital,  or  anything  else. 
Where  does  any  one  find  ground  to  believe  that  the  fact 
will  ever  be  different,  and  that  those  who  have  the  powers 
which  are  most  potent  in  the  society  in  which  they  live 
will  use  those  powers,  not  to  get  the  things  which  all  men 
want  for  themselves,  but  to  get  those  same  things  for  other 
people? 

1   The  Independent,  April  19,  1888. 
*  "Earth  Hunger,  and  Other  Essays,"  pp.  217-270. 
267 


258    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

The  fashion  has  always  been  in  the  past  for  those  who 
possessed  the  essential  powers  to  take  control  of  the  state 
and  realize  their  monopoly  in  that  way.  If  plutocracy 
should  now  prevail  it  would  be  simply  a  repetition  of  that 
experience.  The  only  device  which  has  ever  given  promise 
of  wider  and  more  humane  organization  of  the  state  is 
constitutional  liberty,  which  compels,  by  the  intervention 
of  institutions  created  to  serve  this  purpose,  the  ruling 
class,  whoever  they  were,  to  respect  the  recognized  and 
defined  rights  of  all  the  rest. 

Now,  democracy  having  sapped  and  dissolved  all  the 
inherited  forms  of  social  organizaton  and  reduced  the  social 
body  to  atoms,  it  is  most  interesting  to  observe  the  in- 
evitable recurrence  of  all  the  old  tendencies,  in  new  forms 
fitted  to  the  times.  Some  of  us  thought  that  liberty  was 
won  forever,  and  that  the  race  was  nevermore  to  be  dis- 
turbed by  its  old  problems,  but  it  is  already  apparent  that, 
when  a  society  is  resolved  into  its  constituent  atoms,  the 
question  under  what  forces,  and  upon  what  nuclei,  it  will 
crystallize  into  new  forms,  has  acquired  an  importance 
never  known  before. 

Just  now  public  attention  is  all  absorbed  by  the  new 
name  "trust"  applied  to  one  of  these  phenomena.  I  can 
see  nothing  new  in  a  trust  as  compared  with  the  rings, 
pools,  etc.,  with  which  we  have  been  familiar  during  this 
generation,  except  the  guarantee  which  the  trust  secures 
to  all  the  members  of  the  same  that  no  one  inside  of  it  shall 
play  traitor  to  the  rest.  The  greatest  difficulty  with 
modern  combinations  has  been  that  there  have  been  no 
sanctions  by  which  the  members  could  be  bound,  and  that 
the  profits  of  the  insider  who  turned  against  his  comrades 
have  always  been  an  irresistible  temptation.  In  the 
mediaeval  guilds,  which  were  "trusts"  of  the  most  solid 
construction,  the  sanctions  were  of  the  sternest  kind  — 
religious,  political,  and  social  —  and  yet  they  never  sue- 


TRUSTS  AND  TRADES-UNIONS  259 

ceeded  in  their  purpose.  In  modern  times,  as  is  well  known 
to  all  who  are  acquainted  with  the  attempts  which  have 
been  made,  inside  of  various  branches  of  industry,  to 
arrange  agreements  which  have  not  been  large  enough 
or  public  enough  to  get  into  the  newspapers  the 
difficulty  of  enforcing  loyalty  against  those  who  felt  strong 
enough  to  beat  the  rest  if  they  should  go  alone,  or  against 
those  who  saw  a  chance  to  sell  out  on  the  rest,  or  against 
those  who  were  in  desperate  straits  for  cash,  has  been  the 
constant  stumbling-block.  Fifty  years  ago,  in  the  last 
days  of  the  United  States  Bank,  Nicholas  Biddle  organized 
a  cotton  trust,  to  try  to  control  the  cotton  market  of  the 
world.  It  was  a  complete  failure.  In  general,  combi- 
nations of  this  character  are  in  constant  dilemma:  they 
must  always  grow  bigger  and  bigger,  in  order  to  encompass 
a  sufficient  area  to  constitute  a  unit;  but  the  bigger  they 
grow,  the  less  is  their  internal  cohesion.  The  exception 
to  this  must  be  noted  in  a  moment. 

The  great  expansion  of  the  market  by  modern  inven- 
tions in  transportation  has  broken  up  all  the  former  local 
and  petty  monopolies,  and  is  rapidly  making  of  the  industry 
and  commerce  of  mankind  a  whole  which  cannot  be 
divided  by  geographical  lines.  The  conditions  of  com- 
petition in  such  a  system  are  no  doubt  onerous  to  the 
last  degree.  The  conditions  that  must  be  taken  into 
account  to  win  success  are  numerous  and  complicated. 
The  nerve-strain  of  comprehending  and  of  justly  estim- 
ating the  factors,  and  of  following  their  constant  variations, 
is  too  great  for  any  one  to  endure.  Foresight  must 
be  used,  yet  there  are  so  many  unknown  quantities  that 
foresight  is  impossible;  if  the  attempt  is  made  to 
master  all  the  unknown  quantities,  then  the  task  is  so 
enormous  that  it  cannot  be  accomplished.  Furthermore, 
the  relations  with  other  persons  in  the  industrial  system 
are  necessarily  close.     It  is  impossible  to  escape  such  re- 


260    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

lations,  and  it  is  impossible  to  avoid  a  share  in  the  conse- 
quences of  the  mistakes  and  incompetence  of  the  others. 
It  must  be  added  that,  at  a  time  when  the  advance  in  the 
arts  has  forced  the  whole  industry  of  the  globe  into  intimate 
relations  which  nothing  can  possibly  cut  off,  legislative 
interferences  have  produced  artificial  and  erratic  currents 
in  the  industrial  and  commercial  relations  of  all  countries. 
The  consequences  are  disappointing  and  disastrous  incidents 
in  the  history  of  industry.  At  the  same  time  the  improve- 
ments in  the  communication  of  intelligence  have  made  it 
possible  for  men  farthest  apart  in  space,  language,  and 
nationality,  if  they  have  confidence  in  each  other's  business 
ability  and  command  of  capital,  to  cooperate  by  personal 
agreements. 

Trusts  are  an  attempt  to  deal  with  this  state  of  things. 
It  is,  of  course,  a  jest  when  the  makers  of  a  trust  affirm 
that  they  make  it  for  the  benefit  of  consumers,  and  it  may 
very  well  be  doubted  whether  a  trust  is  a  feasible  and 
beneficial  device  in  the  interest  of  either  party;  but  it  is 
wrong  to  overlook  the  fact  that  the  trust,  in  its  efforts  to 
deal  with  the  case,  and  to  secure  orderly  and  rational 
development,  instead  of  heats  and  chills  in  industry,  has  a 
real  and  legitimate  task  on  hand.  It  is  certain  that  there 
is  room  for  the  introduction  of  intelligent  method  into 
modern  industry,  under  forms  which  shall  be  germane  to 
modern  conditions,  and  it  is  certain  that  this  will  never  be 
done  properly  by  legislation,  but  only  by  the  voluntary 
and  intelligent  cooperation  of  the  parties  interested.  It  is 
also  by  no  means  certain  that  this  systematization  of 
industry,  under  intelligent  cooperation  of  the  parties 
conducting  it,  would  cost  consumers  anything,  provided 
always  that  there  was  no  legislation  to  prevent  the  recourse 
at  any  time  to  any  other  sources  of  supply  which  might  be 
available.  The  economies  of  management  under  intel- 
ligent administration  are  a  source  from  which  gains  may 


TRUSTS  AND  TRADES-UNIONS  261 

be  made  which  will  cost  the  consumer  nothing.  The 
expenses  of  industrial  war  constitute  a  big  fund  for  divi- 
dends to  which  the  consumer  does  not  contribute. 

It  is  worth  while  to  notice,  by  some  familiar  examples, 
what  the  motive  of  a  trust  is;  it  will  be  found  a  far  more 
everyday  matter  than  most  people  suppose.  A  man 
who  owns  a  house  and  lot  buys  the  vacant  lot  adjacent  in 
order  to  control  it.  He  and  his  neighbors  buy  up  all  the 
vacant  lots  on  the  street  in  order  to  prevent  undesirable 
contact  with  anything  which  would  deteriorate  their  prop- 
erty. They  have  already  fallen  victims  to  the  spirit  of 
monopoly,  and  are  subject  to  all  the  denunciations  heaped 
upon  aristocrats  and  exclusivists.  In  their  case  already 
the  practical  difficulty  of  defining  the  unit  to  be  compre- 
hended, in  order  to  attain  the  object  and  no  more,  is  ap- 
parent. Examples  are  furnished  every  day  in  which  capital 
is  refused  for  certain  enterprises  because  it  is  seen  that  the 
investment  might  no  sooner  be  made  than  its  profits  might 
be  destroyed  by  another  enterprise  parallel  with  it.  The 
thing  cannot  be  done  at  all  until  it  is  done  on  a  scale  suffi- 
ciently large  to  constitute  a  complete  unit.  We  are  familiar 
enough  with  the  dilemma  offered  to  us  when,  on  the  one 
hand,  railroads  which  consolidate  put  themselves  in  a 
position  to  serve  us  far  more  efficiently,  yet  on  the  other 
hand,  railroads  which  consolidate  cease  to  compete  with 
each  other  for  our  benefit.  Which  do  we  want  them  to  do? 
The  railroads  themselves  are  familiar  with  the  experience 
that  they  are  constantly  forced  to  make  extensions  in 
order  to  secure  a  certain  territory,  that  is,  to  establish 
a  closed  unit,  and  that  every  extension,  instead  of  attaining 
a  finality,  only  makes  further  extension  unavoidable. 
This  is  the  class  of  facts  in  the  industrial  development  of 
our  time  which  has  produced  the  trusts,  and  it  is  certain 
that  they  offer  another  motive  than  that  of  simple  desire 
to  secure  means  of  extortion. 


262    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

I  am  not  yet  able  to  see  that  any  trust  can  succeed  unless 
it  is  founded  on  a  natural  or  legislative  monopoly,  and 
furthermore  on  a  monopoly  whose  product  cannot  be  pro- 
duced in  an  amount  exceeding  the  demand  at  the  price  which 
has  been  customary  before  the  formation  of  the  trust; 
and  I  cannot  see  any  chance  for  legislation  to  do  any  good 
unless  it  is  in  the  repeal  of  all  such  laws  as  are  found  to  fur- 
nish a  basis  for  the  organization  of  an  artificial  monopoly. 

It  cannot  have  escaped  the  attention  of  the  reader  that 
trades-unions  are  a  monopolistic  organization  on  the  side 
of  labor  entirely  parallel  with  the  trusts  on  the  side  of 
capital,  "a  product  of  the  same  age  and  of  the  same  forces," 
and  an  endeavor  to  deal  with  the  same  problem  from  the 
standpoint  of  another  interest.  The  motives  of  coercion, 
discipline,  and  strict  internal  organization  are  the  same  in 
both  cases,  and  some  of  the  sanctions  are  the  same;  for 
the  pools  and  rings  have  tried  the  boycott  until  they  have 
proved  its  worthlessness.  There  is  a  notion  afloat  that 
the  modern  trades-union  is  a  descendant  of  the  mediaeval 
gild.  It  might,  with  equal  truth,  and  equal  futility,  be  as- 
serted that  the  modern  college,  stock  exchange,  and  joint 
stock  company,  are  descended  from  the  mediseval  gild. 
The  nineteenth-century  trades-union  is  a  nineteenth-century 
institution,  as  much  or  more  so  than  the  ring,  pool,  corner, 
or  trust.  They  are  all  products  of  the  same  facts  in  the 
industrial  development,  and  one  is  just  as  inevitable,  and, 
in  that  sense,  legitimate,  as  the  other.  There  are  some 
who,  while  vehemently  denouncing  trusts,  offer  us,  with 
great  complacency  and  satisfaction,  as  a  solution  of  the 
"labor  question,"  the  assertion  that  the  employers  and 
employees  ought  to  combine  or  cooperate  in  some  way; 
they  do  not  appear  to  see  at  all  that  if  any  such  thing  should 
be  brought  about  it  would  be  the  most  gigantic  "trust" 
that  could  possibly  be  conceived. 


AN  OLD  "TRUST' 


AN  OLD   "TRUST"! 

IN  the  year  1579,  Conrad  Roth,  a  merchant  of  Augs- 
burg, who  had  been  interested  in  the  trade  in  spices 
between  Lisbon  and  Germany,  proposed  to  an  officer  of 
the  treasury  of  the  Elector  of  Saxony  a  scheme  for  a  com- 
pany to  monopolize  the  pepper  trade.  The  Elector  was 
one  of  the  most  enterprising  and  enlightened  princes  of  his 
time,  and  the  proposition  was  really  intended  to  be  made 
to  him  as  the  only  person  who  could  command  the  necessary 
capital  and  had,  at  the  same  time,  courage  and  energy  to 
undertake  the  enterprise. 

A  company  was  formed  of  officers  of  the  treasury,  called 
the  Thuringian  Company,  and  a  warehouse  was  prepared  at 
Leipzig.  It  was  reckoned  that  if  the  company  could 
raise  the  price  of  pepper  one  groschen  per  pound,  the  profits 
would  be  over  38,000  florins  per  annum.  Roth  and  the 
Thuringian  Company  were  to  participate  in  the  enterprise 
equally,  but  the  Prince  was  to  put  up  all  the  capital,  and 
Roth  was  to  do  all  the  work.  The  latter  also  owned  a  very 
valuable  contract  with  the  King  of  Portugal,  according 
to  which  he  was,  for  five  years,  to  send  to  India  money 
enough  to  buy  up  all  the  pepper  produced,  so  that  none 
could  come  into  Europe  through  Egypt  and  Italy.  Before 
that  time  the  Portuguese  officers  had  illegally  sold  some  of 
it,  so  that  it  did  get  into  Europe  that  way;  but  by  buying 
in  India  this  was  now  to  be  stopped. 

Roth  proposed  to  divide  Europe  into  three  sections: 
Portugal,  Spain,  and  the  West;  Italy  and  the  South; 
Germany  and  the  North.  The  Saxon  company  was  to 
have  the  last  as  its  share  of  the  monopoly.  It  was  hoped 
that  the  gains  might  be  forced  up  to  a  much  higher  figure 

1   The  Independent,  June  13,  1889. 
265 


266    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

than  the  one  above  given,  if  only  all  pepper  then  in  Frank- 
fort, Venice,  Nuremberg,  and  Hamburg  could  be  bought  up. 

No  sooner  was  the  plan  formed,  however,  than  Roth 
began  to  reach  out  after  extensions  to  it.  He  wanted 
to  include  the  trade  in  other  spices.  He  also  proposed 
that  the  Elector  should  provide  the  capital  for  an  exchange 
bank  to  do  the  exchange  business  between  Leipzig  and 
Lisbon.  Next  he  found  that  the  existing  postal  arrange- 
ments were  entirely  inadequate  to  the  requirements  of 
his  business,  and  he  proposed  to  the  Elector  a  complete 
plan  for  a  postal  service  between  Italy,  Germany,  France, 
Spain,  and  Portugal.  Then,  having  found  the  shipping 
facilities  unsatisfactory,  he  proposed  that  the  Elector  should 
enter  into  a  contract  with  the  King  of  Denmark,  by  which 
the  latter,  who  owned  ships,  should  provide  a  regular  service 
between  Lisbon  and  the  Elbe. 

These  plans  all  show  the  grand  energy  of  this  projector, 
and  the  Elector  entered  into  them  all.  He  could  not  carry 
out  the  postal  service  without  the  consent  of  the  Emperor, 
and  this  he  was  unable  to  get.  Roth  and  the  Elector 
were  ahead  of  their  time;  the  Emperor  was  not;  he  said 
that  the  plan  proposed  "something  new,  which  had  never 
been  in  use  in  the  time  of  their  ancestors."  The  attempt 
to  unite  private  merchants  in  the  speculation  also  failed 
at  Leipzig,  and  elsewhere  the  attitude  toward  it  was  ex- 
tremely unfriendly. 

When  the  stock  of  pepper  began  to  accumulate  at  Leipzig, 
it  was  found  that  the  article  did  not  begin  to  be  scarce 
elsewhere.  Although  the  advances  of  the  Prince  were 
already  far  greater  than  he  had  promised  when  the  plan 
was  formed,  it  was  found  impossible  to  begin  sales  until 
all  the  pepper  on  the  European  market  elsewhere  could 
be  bought  up;  and  at  the  same  time  reports  came  that,  in 
spite  of  Roth's  contract,  any  one  who  had  money  could 
buy  all  the  pepper  he  wanted  in  India,  and   that  it   was 


AN  OLD   "TRUST"  267 

coming  into  Europe  freely  through  Egj'pt  and  Venice. 
In  the  spring  of  1580  the  supply  in  the  cities  of  Holland 
and  Germany  was  ample.  It  appeared  that  Roth  could 
not  prevent  the  contractors  for  other  parts  of  Europe  from 
shipping  to  Germany,  and  the  price  was  falling  there; 
instead  of  being  at  fifteen  groschen,  where  the  speculators 
hoped  to  hold  it,  it  was  below  twelve.  At  this  point  Roth's 
creditors  began  to  put  attachments  on  his  property.  All 
this  led  the  Elector  to  say:  "We  fear  that  there  has  been 
a  great  mistake  in  Roth's  original  and  still  repeated  asser- 
tion that  all  the  pepper  which  comes  into  Europe  comes 
through  Lisbon." 

In  April  Roth  committed  suicide  upon  hearing  of  the 
death  of  the  King  of  Portugal.  It  was  known  that  the 
King  of  Spain  intended  to  claim  the  succession,  and  that 
the  Portuguese  would  resist;  this  war  and  the  possibility 
of  a  Spanish  succession  meant  ruin  to  the  speculation. 
The  Elector  was  obliged  to  send  agents  in  every  direction 
to  get  possession  of  the  assets  of  the  company,  in  order 
to  recover  his  funds.  In  the  end  it  appears  that  he  escaped 
without  very  serious  loss;  he  sold  the  whole  stock  to  a 
syndicate  of  South  German  merchants,  at  a  price  which 
restored  all  his  capital.  After  moralizing  on  his  experience 
he  declared:  "Inasmuch  as  I  am  now  weary  and  sick, 
"and  am  anxious  to  pass  the  remaining  time  which  God 
vouchsafes  me  in  quiet,  I  have  firmly  determined  to  have 
done  with  commerce,  whether  it  would  bring  me  gain  or 
loss."  "I  have,"  he  says  again,  "strengthened  my  head 
and  I  will  have  done  with  false  commerce."^ 

This  enterprise  was  plainly  an  attempt  to  exploit  a 
natural  monopoly,  and  to  do  it  by  an  operation  which 
should  embrace  the  whole  world;  it  was  a  purely  money- 
making  scheme,  unrelieved  by  any  social  or  industrial  ad- 
vantage.     It   shows  how  erroneous  it  is  to  suppose  that 

^  Falke,  "  August  von  Sacheen." 


268    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

the  merchants  of  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries  were 
inferior  in  boldness  to  those  of  to-day,  or  superior  to  them 
in  disposition  to  sacrifice  themselves  for  the  public  good; 
it  would  be  easy  to  accumulate  any  amount  of  evidence 
that  they  were,  on  the  contrary,  entirely  unscrupulous 
in  the  pursuit  of  gain,  and  that  they  were  bold  beyond 
anything  known  to  modern  merchants.  They  might  well 
be  so.  This  story  shows  what  great  risks,  dangers,  per- 
plexities, and  disappointments  they  were  subject  to.  The 
risk  element  was  plainly  enormous,  but  the  gains  corre- 
sponded, of  course,  and  hence  we  find  some  of  these  men 
enormously  rich;  but  it  is  plain  that  there  was  no  routine 
to  help  the  man  who  had  less  natural  ability.  There  was 
no  regularity  in  any  of  the  contributory  operations,  such 
as  shipping  lines  and  post-office;  there  were  no  regular  and 
adequate  banking  facilities.  If  by  "trust"  we  mean  a 
combination  to  exploit  a  monopoly,  either  natural  or  arti- 
ficial, the  men  of  that  period  had  made  an  art  of  that  sort 
of  undertaking,  and  had  a  skill  in  it  of  which  the  moderns 
have  no  conception. 

One  cannot  help  admiring  the  courage  and  energy  of 
this  Roth.  He  had  everything  to  contend  with;  he  was 
far  in  advance  of  his  age.  If  he  had  lived  in  our  time  he 
would  have  been  a  great  captain  of  industry  —  we  could 
have  given  him  something  better  to  do  than  making  a  corner 
on  pepper. 

In  our  current  social  discussions  there  is  a  special  kind 
of  fallacy  which  consists  in  quasi-historical  assertions. 
For  instance,  it  is  said  that  the  power  of  capital  is  increasing 
and  is  greater  than  it  ever  has  been.  This  is  in  form  an 
historical  assertion,  but  those  who  make  it  never  expect 
to  be  held  to  an  historical  responsibility  for  it.  They 
throw  it  out  with  a  kind  of  risk,  because  they  are  not  very 
accurately  informed  as  to  the  power  of  capital  in  former 
times,  and  have  not  heard  that  it  used  to  act  as  it  does  now. 


AN  OLD   "TRUST"  269 

Capitalists  never  had  less  irresponsible  power  than  now. 
It  is  said  that  monopoly  is  growing  evil;  that  it  never  was 
so  great.  If  people  choose  to  pass  laws  to  make  monop- 
olies, they  must,  of  course,  take  the  consequences;  but  there 
never  was  a  time  when  the  control  of  natural  monopolies 
was  so  rational  as  now,  and  there  never  was  a  time  when  the 
efforts  of  cliques  to  make  artificial  monopolies  could  be  so 
easily  frustrated  as  now.  It  is  said  that  trusts  embracing 
the  whole  world  are  a  new  and  threatening  danger,  never 
heard  of  before.  It  has  seemed  to  me  that,  if  we  are  to 
have  history,  it  might  be  well  for  once  to  see  some  facts 
which  illustrate  "the  good  old  times"  as  they  really  were. 
\  Of  course  nothing  is  thereby  proved  as  to  the  good  or  ill 
I  of  trusts;  but  something  is  proved  as  to  the  fallacy  of  that 
Iclass  of  quasi-historical  assertions  which  I  have  described. 


SHALL  AMERICANS  OWN  SHIPS? 


SHALL  AMERICANS  OWN  SHIPS  ?» 

SINCE  the  war,  public  attention  has  been  drawn  more 
or  less  to  the  marked  decline  in  American  shipping. 
It  has  been  generally  assumed  and  conceded  that  this  was 
a  matter  for  regret,  and  some  discussion  has  arisen  as  to 
remedies  —  what  to  do,  in  fact,  in  order  to  bring  it  about 
that  Americans  should  own  ships.  In  these  discussions, 
there  has  generally  been  a  confusion  apparent  in  regard 
to  three  things  which  ought  to  be  very  carefully  distin- 
guished from  each  other:  ship-building,  the  carrying 
trade,  and  foreign  commerce. 

1.  As  to  ship-building  —  Americans  began  to  build 
ships,  as  an  industry,  within  fifteen  years  after  the  settle- 
ment at  Massachusetts  Bay.  Before  the  Revolution  they 
competed  successfully  as  ship-builders  with  the  Dutch 
and  English,  and  they  sold  ships  to  be  used  by  their  rivals. 
Tonnage  and  navigation  laws  played  an  important  part 
in  the  question  of  separation  between  the  colonies  and 
England,  and  the  same  laws  took  an  important  place 
in  the  formation  of  the  Federal  Constitution.  One  gener- 
ation was  required  for  the  people  of  this  country  to  get  over 
the  hard  logical  twist  in  the  notion  that  laws  which  were 
pernicious  when  laid  by  Great  Britain  were  beneficial 
when  laid  by  ourselves.  The  vacillation  which  has  marked 
the  history  of  our  laws  about  tonnage  and  navigation  is 
such  that  it  does  not  seem  possible  to  trace  the  effects  of 
legislation  upon  ship-building.  In  the  decade  1850-1860  a 
very  great  decline  in  the  number  of  ships  built,  especially 
for  ocean  traflfic,  began  to  be  marked.     Sails  began  to  give 

^  The  North  American  Review,  Vol.  CXXXII,  pp.  559-566.     (June,  1881.) 

27S 


274     THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

way  to  steam,  but  the  building  of  steamships  required  great 
advantages  of  every  kind  in  the  production  of  engines  and 
other  apparatus  —  that  is,  it  required  the  presence,  in  a 
highly  developed  state,  of  a  number  of  important  auxiliary 
and  cooperating  industries.  As  iron  was  introduced  into 
ship-building,  of  course  the  ship-building  industry  became 
dependent  upon  cheap  supplies  of  iron  as  it  had  before 
been  dependent  on  cheap  supplies  of  wood.  No  doubt 
these  changes  in  the  conditions  of  the  industry  itself  have 
been  the  chief  cause  of  the  decline  in  ship-building  in  this 
country,  and  legislation  has  had  only  incidental  effects. 
It  is  a  plain  fact  of  history  that  the  decline  in  ship-building 
began  before  the  war  and  the  high  tariff.  Of  course  the 
effects  produced  by  changes  in  the  conditions  of  an  industry 
are  inevitable;  they  are  not  to  be  avoided  by  any  legislation. 
They  are  annoying  because  they  break  up  acquired  habits 
and  established  routine,  and  they  involve  loss  in  a  change 
from  one  industry  to  another,  but  legislation  can  never  do 
anything  but  cause  that  loss  to  fall  on  some  other  set  of 
people  instead  of  on  those  directly  interested.  Within  the 
last  few  years  it  has  become  certain  that  steel  is  to  be  the 
material  of  ocean  vessels  —  a  new  improvement  which  will 
not  tend  to  bring  the  industry  back  to  this  country.  On 
the  whole,  therefore,  the  decline  in  ship-building  of  the 
last  twenty-five  years  seems  to  indicate  that  somebody 
else  than  ourselves  must  build  the  world's  ships  for  the 
present.  We  have,  by  legislative  devices,  forced  the 
production  of  a  few  ocean  steamers,  but  these  cases  prove 
nothiug  to  the  contrary  of  our  inference.  If  this  nation 
has  a  hobby  for  owning  some  ships  built  in  this  country, 
and  is  willing  to  pay  enough  for  the  gratification  of  that 
hobby,  no  doubt  it  can  secure  the  pleasure  it  seeks.  A 
fisherman  who  has  caught  nothing  sometimes  buys  fish 
at  a  fancy  price;  he  saves  himself  mortification  and  gets 
a  dinner,  but  the  possession  of  the  fish  does  not  prove  that 


SHALL  AMERICANS  OWN  SHIPS?  275 

he  has  profitably  employed  his  time  or  that  he  has  had 
sport. 

2.  The  carrying  trade  differs  from  ship-building  as  cart- 
ing differs  from  wagon-building.  Carrying  is  the  industry 
of  men  who  own  ships ;  their  interests  are  more  or  less  hostile 
to  those  of  the  ship-builders.  Ship  owners  want  to  buy 
new  ships  at  low  prices;  they  want  the  number  of  com- 
peting ships  kept  small;  they  want  freights  high.  In  all 
these  points  the  interest  of  the  ship-builder  is  the  opposite: 
the  ship  owner  is  indifferent  where  he  gets  his  ships ;  he  only 
wants  them  cheap  and  good.  There  is  no  sentiment  in 
the  matter  any  more  than  there  is  in  the  purchase  of  wagons 
by  an  express  company,  or  carriages  by  a  livery-stable 
keeper. 

3.  Foreign  commerce  is  still  another  thing.  It  con- 
sists in  the  exchange  of  the  products  of  one  country  for 
those  of  another.  The  merchant  wants  plenty  of  ships 
to  carry  all  the  goods  at  the  lowest  possible  freights,  but  it 
is  of  no  importance  to  him  where  the  ships  were  built,^ 
or  who  owns  and  sails  them. 

A  statement  and  definition  of  these  three  industries 
suflSces  to  show  what  confusion  must  arise  in  any  discussion 
in  which  they  are  not  properly  distinguished.  It  is  plain 
that  there  are  three  different  questions:  (1)  Can  the  farmer 
biiild  a  vehicle.'*  (2)  Can  he  get  his  crop  carried  to  market? 
(3)  Can  he  sell  his  crop.^^  It  is  evident  that  a  countrj^ 
which  needs  a  protective  tariff  on  iron  and  steel  must  give 
up  all  hopes  of  building  ships  for  ocean  traffic.  For  the 
country  which,  by  the  hypothesis,  needs  a  protective 
tariff  on  iron  and  steel  cannot  produce  those  articles  as 
cheaply  as  some  other  country.  Its  ships,  however,  must 
compete  upon  the  ocean  with  those  of  the  country  which 
has  cheap  iron  and  steel.  The  former  embody  a  larger 
capital  than  the  latter,  and  they  must  be  driven  from  the 
ocean.     If,  then,  subsidies  are  given  to  protect  the  carry- 


276    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

ing  trade,  when  prosecuted  in  ships  built  of  protected  iron, 
the  loss  is  transferred  from  the  ship  owners  to  the  people 
who  pay  taxes  on  shore.  These  taxes,  however,  add  to 
the  cost  of  production  of  all  things  produced  in  the  country, 
and  thereby  lessen  the  power  of  the  country  to  compete 
in  foreign  commerce.  This  lessens  the  amount  of  goods 
to  be  carried  both  out  and  in,  lowers  freights,  throws  ships 
out  of  use,  and  checks  the  building  of  ships;  and  the  whole 
series  of  legislative  aids  and  encouragements  must  be 
begun  over  again,  with  a  repetition  and  intensification  of 
the  same  results.  As  long  as  the  system  lasts  it  works 
down,  and  the  statistics  show,  very  naturally,  that  fewer 
and  fewer  ships  are  built  in  the  country,  and  that  less  and 
less  of  the  carrying  trade  is  carried  on  under  the  national 
flag.  In  view  of  the  three  different  and  sometimes  adverse 
interests  which  are  connected  by  their  relation  to  the  ship- 
ping question,  it  is  not  strange  that  when  the  representatives 
of  those  interests  meet  to  try  to  consider  that  question, 
there  should  simply  be  a  scramble  between  them  to  see 
which  can  capture  the  convention.  The  last  convention 
of  this  sort  was  captured  by  the  owners  of  a  lot  of  unsalable 
and  unsailable  old  hulks,  who  had  hit  upon  the  brilliant 
idea  of  getting  the  nation  to  pay  them  an  annual  bounty 
for  the  use  of  their  antiquated  and  dilapidated  property. 
Strange  to  say,  in  a  country  which  is  charged  with  being 
too  practical  and  hardheaded,  this  proposition  received 
respectful  attention  and  consideration.  It  is  also  strange 
that  our  people  should  believe  that  taxing  farmers  to 
force  the  production  of  iron,  taxing  farmers  again  to  force 
the  production  of  ships  out  of  protected  iron,  and  taxing 
farmers  again  to  pay  subsidies  to  enable  protected  ships 
to  do  business,  is  a  way  to  make  this  country  rich. 

So  soon  as  the  three  different  industries,  or  departments 
of  business,  which  I  have  described  are  distinguished  from 
each  other,  it  is  apparent  that  the  fundamental  one  of  the 


SHALL  AMERICANS  OWN  SHIPS?  277 

three  is  foreign  commerce.  If  we  have  no  commerce  we 
need  no  carrying,  and  it  would  be  absurd  to  build  ships; 
if  we  have  foreign  commerce  its  magnitude  determines  the 
amount  of  demand  there  is  for  freight  and  for  ships.  The 
circle  of  taxation  which  I  have  mentioned,  and  which  is 
obviously  only  a  kind  of  circuit,  described  from  and 
upon  the  farmer  as  a  center  and  fulcrum  to  bear  the  weight 
of  the  whole,  is  necessarily  and  constantly  vicious,  because 
it  presses  down  on  the  foreign  commerce,  which  is  the  proper 
source  of  support  for  carrying  and  ship-building.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  emancipation  of  foreign  commerce  from 
all  trammels  of  every  sort  is  the  only  means  of  increasing 
the  natural,  normal,  and  spontaneous  support  of  carrying 
and  ship-building,  assuming  that  the  carrying  trade  and 
ship-building  are  ends  in  themselves. 

It  is,  however,  no  object  at  all  for  a  country  to  have 
either  ship-building  industry,  or  carrying  trade,  or  foreign 
commerce;  herein  lies  the  fundamental  fallacy  of  all  the 
popular  and  Congressional  discussions  about  ships  and 
commerce.  It  is  only  important  that  the  whole  population 
should  be  engaged  in  those  industries  which  will  pay  the 
best  under  the  circumstances  of  the  country.  For  the  sake 
of  exposing  the  true  doctrine  about  the  matter,  we  may 
suppose  (what  is  not  conceivable  as  a  possible  fact)  that 
a  country  might  not  find  greater  profit  in  the  exportation 
of  any  part  of  any  of  its  products  than  in  the  home  use  of 
the  same.  If  this  could  be  true,  and  if  it  were  realized, 
the  proof  of  it  would  be  that  no  foreign  trade  would  exist. 
There  would  be  no  ground  for  regret  since  the  people  would 
be  satisfied  and  better  off  than  as  if  they  had  a  foreign 
trade.     Carrying  trade  and  ship-building  would  not  exist. 

If  a  country  had  a  foreign  trade  of  any  magnitude  what- 
ever, it  would  not  be  any  object  for  that  country  to  do  its 
own  carrying.  The  figures  which  show  the  amount  paid 
by  the  people  of  the  United  States  to  non-American  ship 


278    THE  FORGOTTEN   MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

owners  for  freight,  and  the  figures  which  show  the  small 
percentage  of  our  foreign  commerce  which  is  carried  under 
the  American  flag,  in  themselves  prove  nothing  at  all. 
The  only  question  which  is  of  importance  is  this:  are  the 
people  of  the  United  States  better  employed  now  than  they 
would  be  if  engaged  in  owTiing  and  sailing  ships?  If  they 
were  under  no  restraints  or  interferences,  that  question  also 
would  answer  itself.  If  Americans  owned  no  ships  and 
sailed  no  ships,  but  hired  the  people  of  other  countries  to 
do  their  ocean  transportation  for  them,  it  would  simply 
prove  that  Americans  had  some  better  employment  for  their 
capital  and  labor.  They  would  get  their  transportation 
accomplished  as  cheaply  as  possible.  That  is  all  they 
care  for,  and  it  would  be  as  foolish  for  any  nation  to  insist 
on  doing  its  own  ocean  transportation,  devoting  to  this 
use  capital  and  labor  which  might  be  otherwise  more 
profitably  employed,  as  it  would  be  for  a  merchant  to  insist 
on  doing  his  own  carting,  when  some  person  engaged  in 
carting  offered  him  a  contract  on  more  advantageous  terms 
than  those  on  which  he  could  do  the  work. 

Furthermore,  the  people  of  a  country  which  had  little 
foreign  commerce  might  find  it  very  advantageous  to 
prosecute  the  carrying  trade.  In  history,  the  great  trading 
nations  have  been  those  which  had  a  small  or  poor  territory 
at  home:  the  Dutch  were  the  great  carriers  of  the  seven- 
teenth and  eighteenth  centuries,  when  the  foreign  com- 
merce of  their  own  territory  was  insignificant;  the  New 
Englanders  of  the  last  century  and  of  the  first  quarter  of 
this  century  became  the  carriers  of  commodities  to  and 
fro  between  all  parts  of  the  world,  especially  between  our 
middle  and  southern  states  and  the  rest  of  the  world.  They 
took  to  the  sea  because  their  land  did  not  furnish  them  with 
products  which  could  remunerate  their  capital  and  labor  so 
well  as  the  carrying  trade  did.  They  won  a  high  reputation 
for  the  merchant  service,  whilch  was  in  their  hands,  and  they 


SHALL  AMERICANS  OWN  SHIPS?  279 

earned  fortunes  by  energy,  enterprise,  promptitude,  and 
fidelity.  The  carrying  trade  is  an  industry  like  any  other; 
it  is  neither  more  nor  less  desirable  in  itself  than  any  other. 
In  any  natural  and  rational  state  of  things  it  would  be 
absurd  to  be  writing  essays  about  it.  If  any  one  thought 
he  could  make  more  profit  in  that  business  than  in  some 
other  he  would  set  about  it.  When  the  census  was  taken 
he  would  be  found  busy  at  that  business,  would  be  so 
reported,  and  that  would  be  the  end  of  the  matter  as  a 
phenomenon  of  public  interest. 

If  a  nation  had  foreign  commerce,  and  some  of  its  citizens 
found  the  carrying  trade  an  advantageous  employment 
for  their  labor  and  capital  as  compared  with  other  possible 
industries  in  the  country,  it  would  not  follow  that  some 
other  citizens  of  that  country  ought  to  engage  in  ship- 
building. It  is  no  object  to  build  ships,  but  only  to  get 
such  ships  as  are  wanted,  in  the  most  advantageous  manner. 
If  a  man  should  refuse  to  carry  on  a  carting  business  un- 
less he  could  make  his  own  wagons,  it  would  be  such  a 
reflection  on  his  good  sense  that  his  business  credit  would 
be  very  low.  If  some  Americans  could  buy  and  sail  ships  so 
as  to  make  profits,  what  is  the  sense  of  saying  that  they 
shall  not  do  it  because  some  other  Americans  cannot  build 
ships  at  a  profit.^  Only  one  answer  to  this  question  has 
ever  been  offered  by  anybody,  and  that  is  the  prediction 
that,  some  day,  if  we  go  without  ships  long  enough,  we  shall, 
by  the  mere  process  of  going  without,  begin  to  get  some 
—  a  prediction  for  which  the  prophets  give  no  guarantee, 
in  addition  to  their  personal  authority,  save  the  fact  that 
we  have  fewer  ships  and  worse  ones  every  year. 

I  have  said  above  that,  if  there  were  no  restraints  or 
interferences,  we  should  simply  notice  whether  any  Ameri- 
cans took  to  the  carrying  trade  or  not,  and  should  thence 
infer  that  they  might  or  might  not  be  better  employed  in 
some  other  industry.     It  is  impossible,  now,  to  say  whether. 


280    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

if  all  restrictions  were  removed,  the  carrying  trade  or  ship- 
building would  be  a  profitable  industry  in  the  United  States 
or  not.  Any  opinion  given  by  anybody  on  that  point  is 
purely  speculative.  The  present  state  of  the  iron  and 
steel  industries,  and  of  the  manufacture  of  engines  and 
machinery,  is  so  artificial  that  no  one  can  judge  what  would 
be  the  possibilities  of  those  industries  under  an  entirely 
different  state  of  things.  It  is,  however,  just  because  the 
present  state  of  things  prevents  a  free  trial  that  it  is  inde- 
fensible; we  are  working  in  the  dark  and  on  speculation  all 
the  time  and  have  none  of  the  natural  and  proper  tests 
and  guarantees  for  what  we  are  doing.  We  are  controlled 
by  the  predictions  of  prophets,  the  notions  of  dogmatizers, 
the  crude  errors  of  superficial  students  of  history,  the  wrong- 
headed  inferences  of  shallow  observers,  and  the  selfish 
machinations  of  interested  persons.  We  can  distinguish 
many  forces  which  are  at  work  on  our  ship-building  and  on 
our  carrying  trade,  but  none  of  them  are  genuine  or  respect- 
able. We  are  submitting  to  restraints  and  losses,  and 
we  have  no  guarantee  whatever  that  we  shall  ever  win 
any  compensation.  The  teaching  of  economic  science  is 
distinctly  that  we  never  shall  win  any.  We  are  expending 
capital  without  any  measurement  or  adjustment  of  the 
quid  pro  quo;  we  are  spending  without  calculation,  and 
receiving  something  or  nothing  —  we  do  not  know  which. 
The  wrong  of  all  this  is  not  in  the  assumption  that  we  have 
not  certain  industries  which  we  would  have  (for  we  cannot 
tell  whether  that  is  so  or  not),  but  the  wrong  is  In  the 
arbitrary  interference  which  prevents  us  from  having  them, 
if  any  man  wants  to  put  his  capital  into  them,  and  which 
prevents  us  from  obtaining  the  proper  facts  on  which  to 
base  a  judgment  about  the  state  and  relations  of  industries 
in  the  country. 

Whenever   the  question   of  ships   is  raised,   the  clamor 
for   subsidies  and  bounties  is  renewed,   and   we  are  told 


SHALL  AMERICANS  OWN  SHIPS?  281 

again  that  England  has  established  her  commerce  by 
subsidies.  It  would  be  well  if  we  could  have  an  under- 
standing, once  for  all,  whether  England's  example  is  a  good 
argument  or  not.  As  she  has  tried,  at  some  time  or  other, 
nearly  every  conceivable  economic  folly,  and  has  also 
made  experiment  of  some  sound  economic  principles,  all 
disputants  find  in  her  history  facts  to  suit  them,  and  it 
needs  only  a  certain  easily  acquired  skill  in  misunder- 
standing things  to  fashion  any  required  argument  from  the 
economic  history  of  England.  Some  of  our  writers  and 
speakers  seem  to  be  under  a  fascination  which  impels  them 
to  accept  as  authoritative  examples  the  foUies  of  English 
history,  and  to  reject  its  sound  lessons.  In  the  present  case, 
however,  the  matter  stands  somewhat  differently.  England 
is  a  great  manufacturing  area;  it  imports  food  and  raw 
materials,  and  exports  finished  products;  it  has,  therefore, 
a  general  and  public  interest  in  maintaining  communication 
with  all  parts  of  the  world.  The  analogy  in  our  case  is 
furnished  by  the  subsidized  railroads  in  our  new  states,  or, 
perhaps  even  better,  by  the  mail  routes  which  we  sustain 
all  over  our  territory,  from  general  considerations  of  public 
advantage,  although  many  such  routes  do  not  pay  at  all. 
Subsidies  to  ships  for  the  mere  sake  of  having  ships,  or 
ocean  traffic,  when  there  is  no  business  occasion  for  the  sub- 
sidized lines,  would  have  no  analogy  with  English  subsidies. 
If  then  the  question  is  put:  Shall  Americans  own  ships.? 
I  do  not  see  how  any  one  can  avoid  the  simple  answer: 
Yes,  if  they  want  them.  Universally,  if  an  American  wants 
anything,  he  ought  to  have  it  if  he  can  get  it,  and  if  he  hurts 
no  one  else  by  getting  it.  To  enter  on  the  question  whether 
he  is  going  to  make  it  or  buy  it,  and  whether  he  is  going 
to  buy  it  of  A  or  of  B,  is  an  impertinence.  We  boast  a 
great  deal  of  having  a  free  country;  our  orators  shout 
themselves  hoarse  about  liberty  and  freedom.  Stop  one 
of  them,  however,  and  ask  him  if  he  means  free  trade  and 


282    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

free  ships,  and  he  will  demur.  No;  not  that;  that  will  not 
do.  He  is  in  favor  of  freedom  for  himself  and  his  friends 
in  those  respects  in  which  they  want  liberty  against  other 
people,  but  he  is  not  in  favor  of  freedom  for  other  people 
against  restraints  which  are  advantageous  to  him  and  his 
political  allies.  He  is  in  favor  of  freedom  for  those  who  are 
being  oppressed  —  by  somebody  else;  not  for  those  who 
are  being  oppressed  by  himself.  I  heard  it  asserted  not 
long  ago  that  we  have  no  monopolies  in  this  country, 
because  it  is  a  free  country.  It  is  not  a  free  country,  because 
there  are  more  artificial  monopolies  in  it  than  in  any  other 
country  in  the  world.  The  popular  notion  that  it  is  free 
rises  from  the  fact  that  there  are  fewer  natural  monopolies 
in  it  than  in  any  other  great  civilized  country.  It  is  neces- 
sary, however,  to  go  to  Turkey  or  Russia  to  find  instances 
of  legislative  and  administrative  abuses  to  equal  the  existing 
laws  and  regulations  of  the  United  States  about  ships, 
the  carrying  trade,  and  foreign  commerce.  These  laws 
have  been  brought  to  public  attention  again  and  again, 
but  apparently  with  little  effect  in  awakening  popular 
attention,  while  the  newspapers  carry  all  over  the  country 
details  about  abuses  in  Ireland,  Russia,  and  South  Africa. 
We  should  stop  bragging  about  a  free  country  and  about 
the  enlightened  power  of  the  people  in  a  democratic  republic 
to  correct  abuses,  while  laws  remain  which  treat  the  buying, 
importing,  owning,  and  sailing  of  ships  as  pernicious  actions, 
or,  at  least,  as  doubtful  and  suspicious  ones.  I  have  no  con- 
ception of  a  free  man  or  a  free  country  which  can  be  satisfied 
if  a  citizen  of  that  country  may  not  own  a  ship,  if  he  wants 
one,  getting  it  in  any  legitimate  manner  in  which  he  might 
acquire  other  property;  or  may  not  sail  one,  if  he  finds 
that  a  profitable  industry  suited  to  his  taste  and  ability; 
or  may  not  exchange  the  products  of  his  labor  with  that 
person,  whoever  he  may  be,  who  offers  the  most  advan- 
tageous terms. 


POLITICS  IN  AMERICA,   1776-1876 


POLITICS  IN  AMERICA,  1776-1876  ^ 

WHEN  the  Continental  Congress  met  in  1774,  few 
persons  in  the  colonies  perceived  that  the  ties  to 
the  mother  country  were  about  to  be  severed,  and  few,  if 
any,  were  republicans  in  theory,  or  contemplated  a  "revo- 
lution" in  the  political  system.  The  desire  for  independence 
was  developed  during  1775,  and  the  question  as  to  the  form 
of  government  to  be  adopted  came  up  by  consequence.  It 
presented  no  real  difficulty.  The  political  organization  of 
some  of  the  colonies  was  such  already  that  there  were  no 
signs  of  dependence  except  the  arms  and  flag,  the  form  of 
writs,  and  a  responsibility  to  the  Lords  of  Trade  which  sat 
very  lightly  upon  them.  Necessary  changes  being  made 
in  these  respects,  those  colonies  stood  as  complete  republics. 
The  others  conformed  to  this  model. 

In  bringing  about  these  changes  great  interest  was  de- 
veloped in  political  speculations,  an  interest  which  found 
its  first  direction  from  Paine's  "Common  Sense,"  and  was 
sustained  by  diligent  reading  of  Burgh's  "Political  Dis- 
quisitions," and  Macaulay's  "History  of  England."  The 
same  speculations  continued  to  be  favorite  subjects  of 
discussion  for  twenty-five  years  afterwards.  The  journals 
of  the  time  were  largely  made  up  of  long  essays  by  writers 
with  fanciful  noms  de  plume,  who  discussed  no  simple 
matters  of  detail,  but  the  fundamental  principles  of  politics 
and  government.  The  method  of  treatment  was  not 
historical,  unless  we  must  except  crude  and  erroneous 
generalizations  on  classical  history,  and  it  seemed  to  be 
believed  that  the  colonial  history  of  this  country  was    es- 

^  The  North  American  Review,  vol.  cxxii,  pp.  47-87.    (January,  1876.) 

285 


286    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

pecially  unfit  to  furnish  guidance  for  the  subsequent  period; 
but  the  disquisitions  in  question  pursued  an  a  priori  method, 
starting  from  the  broadest  and  most  abstract  assumptions. 
The  same  method  has  marked  American  pohtical  philos- 
ophy, so  far  as  there  has  been  any  such  thing,  ever  since. 
It  is  very  much  easier  than  the  method  which  requires  a 
laborious  study  of  history. 

The  natural  effect  of  the  war,  but  still  more  of  the  doc- 
trines in  regard  to  liberty  taught  by  Paine,  and  of  the  de- 
plorable policy  of  local  terrorism  pursued  by  the  Committees 
of  Safety  against  Tories  and  Refugees,  was  to  produce  and 
bring  into  prominence  a  class  of  active,  shallow  men,  who 
felt  their  new  powers  and  privileges  but  not  the  responsi- 
bility which  ought  to  go  with  these.  The  old  colonial 
bureaucracy,  which  had  enjoyed  all  the  social  preeminence 
that  colonial  life  permitted,  was  gone.  OiOSce  was  open 
to  many  who,  before  the  war,  had  little  chance  of  attain- 
ing it.  They  sought  it  eagerly,  expecting  to  enjoy  the 
social  advantages  they  had  formerly  envied.  In  the  north- 
ern states  a  class  of  eager  office-seekers  arose  who  gained  a 
great  influence,  saw  their  arena  in  the  states  especially,  and 
jealously  opposed  the  power  of  the  Confederation.  This 
class  made  hatred  to  England  almost  a  religion,  and  testified 
to  their  political  virtues  by  persecuting  Tories  and  Ref- 
ugees. They  found  popular  grievances  also  ready  to  their 
hand  as  a  means  of  advancement.  The  mass  of  the  people 
had  been  impoverished  by  the  war.  The  attempts  at  com- 
mercial war  had  reacted  upon  the  nation  with  great  severity. 
The  paper  issues  of  the  Congress  and  the  states  had  wrought 
their  work  to  derange  values,  violate  contracts,  inflate 
credit,  and  destroy  confidence.  On  the  return  of  peace  the 
industries  which  had  been  sustained  only  by  war  ceased  to 
be  profitable;  the  reduction  of  prices  spread  general  ruin 
and  left  thousands  indebted  and  impoverished.  The  con- 
sequence was  discontent  and  disorder.     All  this  was  height- 


POLITICS  IN  AMERICA,  1776-1876  287 

ened  by  the  contrast  with  another  class  which  had  been 
enriched  by  privateering,  contracts,  and  "financiering." 
The  soldier  who  returned  in  rags,  bringing  only  a  few  bits 
of  scrip  worth  fifteen  or  twenty  cents  on  the  dollar,  found 
his  family  in  want,  and  some  of  his  neighbors,  who  had 
borne  few  of  the  sacrifices  of  the  war,  enriched  by  it  and 
now  enjoying  its  fruits.  It  seemed  to  this  whole  class  that 
they  had  not  yet  got  liberty,  or  that  they  did  not  know  what 
it  was.     They  did  not  look  for  it  to  a  closer  union. 

This  party,  for  it  soon  became  a  party,  found  an  alliance 
in  a  quarter  where  it  would  hardly  have  been  expected,  in 
the  slave-owning  planters  of  the  South  —  an  alliance  which 
has  been  of  immense  importance  in  our  political  history. 
The  planters,  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  had  been  heavily 
indebted  to  English  capitalists  and  merchants.  They  now 
feared  that  they  would  be  compelled  to  pay  their  debts,  and 
they  saw  in  the  treaty-making  power  of  the  general  govern- 
ment the  source  from  which  this  compulsion  would  come. 
They  therefore  opposed  any  union  which  would  strengthen 
and  give  vigor  to  that  power.  To  this  party  were  added 
those  who  had  adopted,  on  theoretical  and  philosophical 
grounds,  the  enthusiasm  for  liberty  which  was  then  preva- 
lent in  both  hemispheres.  It  should  be  added  to  the 
characteristics  of  this  party  that  it  looked  with  indifference 
upon  foreign  commerce,  cared  little  for  foreign  opinion, 
would  have  been  glad  to  be  isolated  from  the  Old  World, 
and  had  very  crude  opinions  as  to  the  status  and  relations 
of  European  nations. 

This  party  naturally  went  on  to  confound  liberty  with 
equality,  and  political  virtue  with  tenacity  of  rights.  It 
furthermore  confounded  power  with  privilege,  and  thought 
that  it  must  allow  no  civil  power  or  authority  to  exist  if  it 
meant  really  to  exterminate  aristocratic  privilege*  It  was 
not  so  clear  in  its  conception  of  political  duties,  and  certainly 
failed  to  see  that  the  best  citizen   is   not  the  one  who   is 


288    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

most  tenacious  of  his  political  rights,  but  the  one  who  is 
most  faithful  to  his  political  duties;  that  envy  and  jealousy- 
are  not  political  virtues;  and  that  equality  can  be  attained 
only  by  cutting  off  every  social  advance  and  setting  up  as 
the  standard,  not  what  is  highest,  but  what  is  a  low 
average. 

An  opposing  party  gradually  formed  itself  of  men  of 
wider  information  and  superior  training.  These  men 
understood  the  institutions  of  Great  Britain  and  their 
contrast  to  those  of  any  other  country  in  Europe.  They 
understood  just  what  the  war  had  done  for  the  Colonies. 
They  did  not  consider  that  it  had  altered  the  internal  in- 
stitutions inherited  from  the  mother  country,  or  set  the 
Colonies  adrift  upon  a  sea  of  political  speculation  to  try  to 
find  a  political  Utopia.  Some  of  them  joined  for  a  time  in 
the  prevalent  opinion  that  the  Americans  were  better  and 
purer  than  the  rest  of  mankind,  but  experience  soon  taught 
them  their  error.  Tradition  and  experience  still  had 
weight  with  them;  and  in  making  innovations  they  sought 
development  rather  than  destruction  and  reconstruction. 
They  were  conservative  by  property,  education,  and 
character. 

To  this  party  it  was  evident  that  the  colonies  had  lost 
much  by  falling  out  of  the  place  in  the  family  of  nations 
which  they  had  filled  as  part  of  the  British  Empire,  and  they 
believed  that  a  similar  place  must  now  be  won  on  an  inde- 
pendent footing.  They  understood  the  necessity  of  well- 
regulated  foreign  relations,  of  foreign  commerce,  and  of 
public  credit.  Their  general  effort  was,  therefore,  to  secure 
order  and  peace  in  the  internal  relations  of  the  country  by 
establishing  liberty  indeed,  but  liberty  under  law;  and  to  se- 
cure respectability  and  respect  abroad  by  fidelity  to  treaties 
and  pecuniary  engagements,  by  a  reputation  for  commer- 
cial integrity,  and  by  a  development  of  the  arts  of  peace. 
The  first  requisite  to  all  this  was  a  more  perfect  union. 


POLITICS   IN  AMERICA,  1776-1876  289 

The  two  parties,  therefore,  formed  about  the  issue  of  a 
revision  of  the  Articles  of  Confederation,  but  it  was  not 
until  the  absolute  necessity  of  the  objects  aimed  at  by  the 
Federalists  —  objects  which  are  in  their  nature  less  directly 
obvious  and  tangible  —  had  been  demonstrated  by  ex- 
perience, that  this  revision  was  brought  about.  The 
Union  was  not  the  result  of  a  free  and  spontaneous  effort, 
but  was  "extorted  from  the  grinding  necessity  of  a  re- 
luctant people."  A  political  party  which  resists  a  pro- 
posed movement  by  predicting  calamitous  results  to  flow 
from  it  must  abide  by  the  verdict  of  history.  Tried  by 
this  test,  the  anti-Federalists  are  convicted  of  resisting  the 
most  salutary  action  in  our  political  history.  The  victory 
was  won,  not  by  writing  critical  essays  about  the  move- 
ment and  the  relations  of  parties,  but  by  the  direct  and 
energetic  activity  of  those  men  of  that  generation  who  had 
enjoyed  the  greatest  advantages  of  education  and  culture. 

Three  evils  were  inherited  under  the  new  Constitution 
from  the  old  system:  slavery  (which  the  framers  of  the 
Constitution  tolerated,  thinking  it  on  the  decline),  paper 
money  (which  they  thought  they  had  eradicated),  and  the 
mercantile  theories  of  political  economy.  These  three  evils, 
in  their  single  or  combined  development,  have  given  char- 
acter to  the  whole  subsequent  political  history  of  the 
country.  One  of  them  has  been  eliminated  by  a  civil  war. 
The  other  two  confront  us  as  the  great  political  issues  of 
to-day. 

The  framers  of  the  Constitution,  without  having  any 
precise  definition  of  a  republic  in  mind,  knew  well  that  it 
differed  from  a  democracy.  No  one  of  them  was  a  dem- 
ocrat. They  were,  at  the  time  of  framing  the  Constitu- 
tion, under  an  especial  dread  of  democracy,  on  account  of 
the  rebellion  in  Massachusetts.  They  meant  to  make  a 
Constitution  in  order  to  establish  organized  or  articulated 
liberty,  giving  guarantees  for  it  which  should  protect  it 


290    THE  FORGOTTEN   MAN  AND   OTHER  ESSAYS 

from  popular  tyranny  as  much  as  from  personal  despotism. 
Indeed,  they  recognized  the  former  as  a  great  danger,  the 
latter  as  a  delusion.  They  therefore  established  a  con- 
stitutional republic.  The  essential  feature  of  such  a 
system  of  government  (for  it  is  a  system  of  government, 
and  not  a  political  theory)  is  that  political  power  be  con- 
ferred under  a  temporary  and  defeasible  tenure.  That  it 
be  conferred  by  popular  election  is  not  essential,  although 
it  is  convenient  in  many  cases.  This  method  was  the  one 
naturally  indicated  by  the  circumstances  of  the  United 
States.  The  system  which  was  established  did  not  pretend 
to  give  direct  effect  to  public  opinion  according  to  its 
fluctuations.  It  rather  interposed  delays  and  checks  in 
order  to  secure  deliberation,  and  it  aimed  to  give  expres- 
sion to  public  opinion  only  after  it  was  matured.  It  sought 
to  eliminate  prejudice  and  passion  by  prescribing  before- 
hand methods  which  seemed  just  in  themselves,  inde- 
pendently of  conflicting  interests,  in  order  that,  when  a 
case  arose,  no  advantage  of  procedure  might  be  offered  to 
either  party;  and  it  aimed  to  subject  action  to  organs  whose 
operation  should  be  as  impersonal  as  it  is  possible  for  the 
operation  of  political  organs  to  be. 

Democracy,  on  the  other  hand,  has  for  its  essential 
feature  equality,  and  it  confers  power  on  a  numerical 
majority  of  equal  political  units.  It  is  not  a  system  of 
government  for  a  state  with  any  but  the  narrowest  limits. 
On  a  wider  field  it  is  a  theory  as  to  the  depositary  of  sov- 
ereignty. It  seizes  upon  majority  rule,  w^hich  is  only  a 
practical  expedient  for  getting  a  decision  where  something 
must  be  done  and  a  unanimous  judgment  as  to  what  ought 
to  be  done  is  impossible,  and  it  makes  this  majority  the 
depositary  of  sovereignty,  under  the  name  of  the  sover- 
eignty of  the  people.  This  sovereign,  however,  is  as 
likely  as  any  despot  to  aggrandize  itself,  and  to  promul- 
gate the  unformulated  doctrines  of  the  divine  right  of  the 


POLITICS  IN  AMERICA,  1776-1876  291 

sovereign  majority  to  rule,  the  duty  of  passive  obedience 
in  the  minority,  and  that  the  majority  can  do  no  wrong. 

Opposition  to  the  Federal  Constitution  died  out  in  a 
year  or  two,  and  no  one  could  be  found  who  would  confess 
that  he  had  resisted  its  adoption.  Parties  divided  on 
questions  of  detail  and  of  interpretation,  and  the  points 
on  which  they  differed  were  those  by  which  the  Constitu- 
tion imposed  delays  and  restraints  upon  the  popular  will. 
The  administrations  of  Washington  and  Adams  threw 
continually  increasing  weight  in  favor  of  constitutional 
guarantees,  as  the  history  of  the  French  Revolution  seemed 
to  the  Federalists  to  furnish  more  and  more  convincing 
proofs  of  the  dangers  of  unbridled  democracy.  The  op- 
position saw  nothing  in  that  history  save  the  extravagant 
ebullitions  of  a  people  new  to  freedom  —  saw  rather  ex- 
amples to  be  imitated  than  dangers  to  be  shunned.  Sym- 
pathy and  gratitude  came  in  to  exercise  a  weighty  influence 
on  political  issues.  The  personal  executive  and  the  ju- 
diciary were  the  chief  subjects  of  dislike,  and  General 
Washington  himself  finally  incurred  abuse  more  wanton 
and  severe  than  any  President  since,  except  the  elder 
Adams,  has  endured,  because  the  fact  was  recognized  that 
Washington's  personality  was  the  strongest  bulwark  which 
the  system  possessed  at  the  outset. 

Democracy,  however,  was,  and  still  is,  so  deeply  rooted 
in  the  physical  and  economic  circumstances  of  the  United 
States,  that  the  constitutional  barriers  set  up  against  it 
have  proved  feeble  and  vain.  Fears  of  monarchy  have  now 
almost  ceased  or  are  ridiculed.  Monarchist  and  aristo- 
crat are  now  used  only  as  epithets  to  put  down  some  over- 
bold critic  of  our  political  system;  but  in  the  early  days 
of  the  Republic  the  mass  of  the  people  believed  that  the 
supporters  of  the  first  two  administrations  desired  aris- 
tocracy and  monarchy.  In  a  new  country,  however,  with 
unlimited  land,  the  substantial  equality  of  the  people  in 


292    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

property,  culture,  and  social  position  is  inevitable.  Po- 
litical equality  follows  naturally.  Democracy  is  given  in 
the  circumstances  of  the  case.  The  yeoman  farmer  is  the 
prevailing  type  of  the  population.  It  is  only  when  the 
pressure  of  population  and  the  development  of  a  more 
complex  social  organization  produce  actual  inequality  in 
the  circumstances  of  individuals,  that  a  political  aristoc- 
racy can  follow  and  grow  upon  a  social  aristocracy.  The 
United  States  are  far  from  having  reached  any  such  state 
as  yet.  These  facts  were  felt,  if  not  distinctly  analyzed 
and  perceived,  even  by  those  who  might  on  theory  have 
preferred  monarchical  institutions;  and,  as  Washington 
said,  there  were  not  ten  men  in  the  country  who  wanted  a 
monarchy. 

The  Federalists  repaid  their  opponents  with  a  no  less 
exaggerated  fear  of  their  principles  and  intentions,  regard- 
ing them  as  Jacobins  and  sans  culottes,  who  desired  to  de- 
stroy whatever  was  good  and  to  produce  bloodshed  and 
anarchy.  Party  spirit  ran  to  heights  seldom  reached  since. 
Partisan  abuse  outstripped  anything  since.  It  was  an  ad- 
ditional misfortune  that  the  questions  at  issue  were  delicate 
questions  of  foreign  policy  and  international  law.  It  is  a 
great  evil  in  a  republic  that  parties  should  divide  by  sym- 
pathy with  two  foreign  nations,  and  it  is  the  greatest  evil 
possible  that  they  should  not  believe  in  each  other's  loyalty 
to  the  existing  constitution. 

The  deeper  movement  which  was  stirring  to  affect  the 
general  attitude  or  standpoint  from  which  the  Constitution 
was  viewed  (a  matter,  of  course,  of  the  first  importance 
under  a  written  constitution),  and  which  was  changing  the 
constitutional  republic  into  a  democratic  republic,  did  not 
escape  the  observation  of  the  most  sagacious  men  of  the 
earliest  days.  Fisher  Ames  wrote  to  Wolcott  in  1800: 
"The  fact  really  is,  that  over  and  above  the  diflSculties  of 
sustaining  a  free  government,  and  the  freer  the  more  dif- 


POLITICS  IN  AMERICA,  1776-1876  293 

ficult,  there  is  a  want  of  accordance  between  our  system 
and  the  state  of  our  public  opinion.  The  government 
is  republican;  opinion  is  essentially  democratic.  Either 
events  will  raise  public  opinion  high  enough  to  support 
our  government,  or  public  opinion  will  pull  down  the  gov- 
ernment to  its  own  level."  The  fact  was  that  the  govern- 
ment could  not,  under  the  system,  long  remain  above  the 
level  of  public  opinion.  The  Federalists,  assisted  by  the 
prestige  of  Washington's  name,  held  it  there  for  twelve 
years;  but  they  probably  never,  on  any  of  the  party  issues, 
even  with  a  restricted  suffrage,  had  a  majority  of  the  voters. 
Dating  the  rise  of  parties  from  the  time  of  Jay's  Treaty, 
they  had  a  majority  of  the  House  of  Representatives  only 
under  the  excitement  of  French  insult  in  1798. 

The  leading  men  of  1787-1788,  as  has  been  said,  worked 
industriously  and  energetically  for  political  objects.  The 
first  decade  of  the  Republic  had  not  passed  by,  however, 
before  men  began  to  estimate  the  cost  and  sacrifices  of 
public  life  and  the  worry  of  abuse  and  misrepresentation, 
to  compare  this  with  what  they  could  accomplish  in  poli- 
tics, and  to  abandon  the  contest.  To  the  best  public  men 
professions  and  other  careers  offered  fame,  fortune,  hon- 
orable and  gratifying  success.  In  public  life  they  struggled 
against,  and  were  defeated  by,  noisy,  active  men  who  could 
not  have  competed  with  them  in  any  other  profession. 
Their  best  efforts  were  misunderstood  and  misrepresented. 
They  had  no  reward  but  the  consciousness  of  fulfilling  a 
high  public  duty.  Furthermore  they  lacked,  as  a  class, 
the  tact  and  sagacity  which  the  system  indispensably  re- 
quires. The  leaders  of  the  Federal  party  committed  a 
political  blunder  of  the  first  magnitude  in  quarrelling  with 
John  Adams,  whatever  may  have  been  his  faults.  They 
thereby  separated  themselves  from  the  mass  of  their  own 
party,  and  at  a  time  when  parties  were  so  evenly  balanced  that 
they  required  harmony  for  any  chance  of  success;  and  they 


294     THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

put  themselves  in  the  position  of  a  junto  or  cabal,  trying 
to  dictate  to  the  party  without  guiding  its  reason.  Those 
of  them  who  had  withdrawn  from,  or  had  been  thrown  out  of 
political  life  by  the  causes  above  mentioned  were  most 
active  in  this  work  of  disorganization.  They  had  aban- 
doned that  sort  of  task  which  they  had  engaged  in  at  the 
outset,  and  which,  difficult  as  it  is,  is  permanently  incum- 
bent on  the  cultured  classes  of  the  country  —  to  make  the 
culture  of  the  nation  homogeneous  and  uniform  by  impart- 
ing and  receiving,  by  living  in  and  of  and  for  the  nation, 
contributing  to  its  thought  and  life  their  best  stores,  what- 
ever they  are.  A  breach  was  opened  there  which  has  gone 
on  widening  ever  since,  and  which  has  been  as  harmful  to 
our  culture  as  to  our  politics.  On  the  one  side  it  has  been 
left  to  anti-culture  to  control  all  which  is  indigenous  and 
*' American";  and  on  the  other  hand  American  culture  has 
been  like  a  plant  in  a  thin  soil,  given  over  to  a  sickly  dilet- 
tantism and  the  slavish  imitation  of  foreign  models,  ill 
understood,  copied  for  matters  of  form,  and,  as  often  as 
not,  imitated  for  their  worst  defects. 

An  actual  withdrawal  of  the  ablest  men  from  political 
life,  such  as  we  have  come  to  deplore,  began,  then,  at  this 
early  day.  Many  others  were  thrown  out  for  too  great 
honesty  and  truth  in  running  counter  to  the  popular  no- 
tions of  the  day.  John  Adams  incurred  great  unpopularity 
for  having  said  that  the  English  Constitution  was  one  of 
the  grandest  achievements  of  the  human  race  —  an  asser- 
tion which  Callender  disputed,  with  great  popular  success, 
by  dilating  upon  the  corruption  of  the  English  administra- 
tion under  George  III,  but  an  assertion  which,  in  the 
sense  in  which  it  was  made,  no  well-informed  man  would 
question.  Sedgwick  laid  down  the  principle  that  the  govern- 
ment might  claim  the  last  man  as  a  soldier  and  the  last 
dollar  in  taxation  —  an  abstract  proposition  which  is  un- 
questionable,   but   which    Callender   disputed,    once   more 


POLITICS  IN  AMERICA,  1776-1876  295 

with  great  popular  success,  by  arguing  as  if  it  were  a  prop- 
osition to  take  the  last  man  and  the  last  dollar.  Dexter 
lost  a  reelection  by  opposing  a  clause  of  the  naturalization 
law,  that  a  foreign  nobleman  should  renounce  his  titles  on 
being  naturalized.  It  was  opposed  as  idle  and  frivolous, 
and  favored  as  if  every  foreign  nobleman  would  otherwise 
become  by  naturalization  a  member  of  Congress.  Hamil- 
ton and  Knox  abandoned  the  public  service  on  account  of 
the  meagerness  of  their  salaries.  Pickering,  who  left  office 
really  insolvent,  and  with  only  a  few  hundred  dollars  in 
cash,  was  pursued  by  charges  of  corruption  on  the  ground 
of  unclosed  accounts.  Wolcott,  at  the  end  of  long  and 
faithful  service,  was  charged  with  the  responsibility  for  a 
fire  which  broke  out  in  his  office,  as  if  he  had  sought  to 
destroy  the  records  of  corrupt  proceedings. 

It  is  no  wonder  that  these  men  abandoned  public  life, 
and  that  their  examples  deterred  others,  unless  they  were 
men  born  to  it,  who  could  not  live  out  of  the  public 
arena;  but  it  is  true  now,  as  it  was  then,  that  men  of  true 
culture,  high  character,  and  correct  training  can  abandon 
public  political  effort  only  by  the  surrender  of  some  of  the 
best  interests  of  themselves  and  their  posterity.  The  pur- 
suit of  wealth,  which  is  the  natural  alternative,  has  always 
absorbed  far  too  much  of  the  ambition  of  the  nation,  and 
under  such  circumstances  there  could  be  no  other  result 
than  that  a  wealthy  class  should  arise,  to  whom  wealth 
offers  no  honorable  social  power,  in  whom  it  awakens  no 
intellectual  or  political  ambition,  to  whom  it  brings  no 
sense  of  responsibility,  but  for  whom  it  means  simply  the 
ability  to  buy  what  they  want,  men  or  measures,  and  to 
enjoy  sensual  luxury.  A  class  of  men  is  produced  which 
mocks  at  the  accepted  notions  while  it  uses  them,  and 
scorns  the  rest  of  us  with  a  scorn  which  is  so  insulting  only 
because  it  is  so  just.  It  is  based  on  the  fact  that  we  will 
not  undergo  the  sacrifices  necessary  to  seK-defense.     This 


296  THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

pursuit  of  wealth  was  almost  the  only  pursuit  attractive 
to  able  men  who  turned  their  backs  on  the  public  service 
in  the  early  days.  In  later  years  professional  careers  and 
scientific  and  literary  pursuits  have  disputed  to  a  great  and 
greater  extent  the  dominion  of  wealth  over  the  energies 
of  the  nation;  but  politics  have  not  yet  won  back  their 
due  attraction  for  able  and  ambitious  men. 

The  Federalists  also  held  a  defective  political  philosophy. 
They  did  not  see  that  the  strength  of  a  constitutional 
republic  such  as  they  desired  must  be  in  the  intelligent 
approval  and  confidence  of  the  citizens.  Adams  and 
Hamilton  agreed  in  supposing  that  some  artificial  bond 
must  be  constructed  to  give  strength  to  the  system.  Ham- 
ilton looked  for  it  in  the  interest  of  the  wealthy  class,  which 
he  wanted  to  bind  up  in  the  system  —  a  theory  which 
would  have  changed  it  into  a  plutocracy.  Adams  sought  the 
bond  in  ambition  for  social  emmence,  and  did  not  see  that, 
where  such  eminence  sprang  only  from  wealth  or  official 
rank,  the  very  principle  of  human  nature  which  he  invoked 
would,  under  the  form  of  envy,  counteract  his  effort. 

The  presidential  election  of  1801  having  been  thrown 
into  the  House  of  Representatives,  the  Federalists  added 
to  their  former  blunder  another  far  more  grave.  Abandon- 
ing their  claims  to  principle  and  character,  they  took  to 
political  intrigue  and  bargaining,  in  the  attempt  to  elect 
Burr  over  Jefferson.  Their  exit  from  power  might  other- 
wise have  been  honorable,  and  they  might,  as  an  opposi- 
tion party,  have  made  a  stand  for  inflexible  principle  and 
political  integrity;  but  it  was  hard  for  them  after  this  to 
talk  of  those  things,  especially  as  Burr  went  on  to  develop  the 
character  which  Hamilton  had  warned  them  that  he  pos- 
sessed. They  fell  into  the  position  of  "independent  voters,'* 
throwing  their  aid  now  with  one  and  now  with  the  other 
faction  of  the  majority;  but  history  does  not  show  that 
they  ever  forced  either  one  or  the  other  to  "adopt  good 


POLITICS  IN  AMERICA,  1776-1876  297 

measures,"  for  the  obvious  reason  that  the  majority  pos- 
sessed the  initiative.  The  purchase  of  Louisiana  seemed 
to  them  to  transfer  the  power  of  the  Union  to  the  southern 
and  frontier  states,  the  seat  of  the  pohtical  theories  which 
they  regarded  as  reckless  and  lawless.  They  feared  that 
the  power  of  the  Union  would  be  used  to  sacrifice  commerce 
and  to  put  in  operation  wild  theories  by  which  the  interests 
of  the  northern  and  eastern  states  would  be  imperiled, 
and  the  inherited  institutions  of  constitutional  liberty, 
which  they  valued  as  their  best  possessions,  would  be  over- 
thrown. The  Embargo  and  Non-intercourse  Acts  seemed 
only  the  fulfillment  of  these  fears.  The  recourse  of  a  mi- 
nority has  always  been  to  invoke  the  Constitution  and  to 
insist  upon  the  unconstitutionality  of  what  they  could  not 
resist  by  votes,  each  party  in  turn  thereby  bearing  witness 
to  the  truth  that  the  Constitution  is  the  real  safeguard  of 
rights  and  liberty.  In  the  last  resort  also  the  minority,  if 
it  has  been  local,  and  has  seen  the  majority  threatening  to 
use  the  tremendous  power  of  the  Confederation  to  make 
the  interests  of  the  minority  subservient  to  the  interests 
of  the  rest,  has  felt  its  loyalty  to  the  Union  decline.  How 
far  the  Federalists  went  in  this  direction  it  is  diflBcult  to 
say,  but  they  certainly  went  farther  than  they  were  after- 
wards willing  to  confess  or  remember.  They  gradually 
faded  out  of  view  as  a  political  power  after  the  second  war 
and  in  the  twenties  "Federalist"  became  a  term  of  re- 
proach. 

The  opposite  party,  called  by  themselves  Republicans 
after  1792,  took  definite  form  in  opposition  to  Washing- 
ton's administration  on  the  question  of  ratifying  Jay's 
Treaty.  They  were  first  called  Democrats  in  1798,  the 
name  being  opprobrious.  They  adopted  it,  however,  first 
in  connection  with  the  former  name;  and  the  joint  appel- 
lation. Democratic  Republicans,  or  either  separately,  was 
used   indifferently   down   to   the   middle   of   this   century. 


298  THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

Jefferson  was  the  leader  of  this  party.  He  did  not  write 
any  political  disquisitions  or  aid  in  the  attempts  which 
have  been  mentioned  to  form  public  opinion;  but  his  ex- 
pressions in  letters  and  fugitive  writings  struck  in  with  the 
tide  of  Democracy  so  aptly  and  exactly  that  he  seemed  to 
have  put  into  people's  mouths  just  the  expression  for  the 
vague  notions  which  they  had  not  yet  themselves  been 
able  to  get  into  words.  Jefferson,  in  fact,  was  no  thinker. 
He  was  a  good  specimen  of  the  a  priori  political  philoso- 
pher. He  did  not  reason  or  deduce;  he  dogmatized  on 
the  widest  and  most  rash  assumptions,  which  were  laid 
down  as  self-evident  truths.  He  did  not  borrow  from  the 
contemporaneous  French  schools,  for  his  democracy  is  of 
a  different  type;  but  both  sprang  from  the  same  germs 
and  pursued  the  same  methods  of  speculation.  Freneau, 
Bache,  Callender,  and  Duane  wrought  continually  upon 
public  opinion,  and  Jefferson  entered  into  the  leadership 
of  the  party  they  created,  by  virtue  of  a  certain  skill  in 
giving  watchwords  and  dogmatic  expressions  for  the  ideas 
which  they  disseminated. 

The  dogmas  which  Jefferson  taught,  or  of  which  he  was 
the  exponent,  were  not  without  truth.  Their  fallacy  con- 
sisted in  embracing  much  falsehood,  and  also  in  excluding 
the  vast  amount  of  truth  which  lay  outside  of  them.  For 
instance,  the  dogma  that  the  voice  of  the  people  is  the  voice 
of  God  is  not  without  truth,  if  it  means  that  the  enlightened 
and  mature  judgment  of  mankind  is  the  highest  verdict  on 
earth  as  to  what  is  true  or  wise.  This  is  the  truth  which 
is  sought  to  be  expressed  in  the  ecclesiastical  dogma  of 
Catholicity,  but  the  political  and  the  ecclesiastical  dogma 
have  the  same  limitation.  This  verdict  of  mankind  can- 
not be  obtained  in  any  formal  and  concrete  expression, 
and  is  absolutely  unattainable  on  grounds  of  speculation 
antecedent  to  experiment.  It  is  in  history  only;  or,  rather, 
it  constitutes  history.     In  Jefferson's  doctrine  and  practice 


POLITICS   IN  AMERICA,  1776-1876  299 

it  resolved  itself  simply  into  this  practical  rule:    the  test 
of  wisdom  for  the  statesman  and  of  truth  for  the  philosopher 
is  popularity.     When  the  statesman  has  a  difficult  practi- 
cal question  before  him  as  to  what  to  do,  according  to  this 
theory  he  puts  forward  what  seems  to  him  best  as  a  propo- 
sition.    If,   then,   the   return   wave   of   popular   sympathy 
comes  back  to  him  with  promptitude  and  with  the  intensity 
to  which  he  is  accustomed,  he  infers  that  he  has  proposed 
wisely,  and  goes  forward.     If  there  is  delay  or  uncertainty 
in  the  response,  he  draws  back.     The  actual  operation  of 
this  theory  is  that,  if  the  statesman  in  question  is  the  idol 
of  a  popular  majority,  the  approving  response  is  quick  and 
sure,  because  the  proposition  comes  from  him,  not  because 
the  tribunal  of  appeal  has  considered  or  can  consider  the 
question.     If  an  unpopular  man  endeavors  to  use  the  same 
test,    the   answer    is    doubtful,    feeble,    hesitating,    or   im- 
patient, because  those  to  whom  he  appeals  have  not  the 
necessary  preparation,  or  time,  or  interest  to  judge  in  the 
matter.     In    general,    the    theory    is    popular,    because    it 
flatters  men  that  they  can  decide  anything  offhand,  by  the 
light  of  nature,  or  by  some  prompt  application  of  assump- 
tions as  to  "natural  rights,"  or  by  applying  the  test  of  a 
popular    dogma    or    prejudice.     It    tramples    study    and 
thought  and  culture  under  foot  and  turns  their  boasts  to 
scorn.     On  the  other  hand,   it   makes   statesmanship   im- 
possible.    Study  and  thought  go  for  nothing.     There  can 
be  no  authority  derived  from  information  or    science  or 
training,  and  no  leadership  won  by  virtue  of  these.     If  the 
decision  is  to  come  from  a  popular  vote,  why  not  abandon 
useless  trouble  and  trust  to  that  alone? 

Such  has  been  the  outcome  in  history,  as  will  appear 
further  on,  of  the  doctrines  which  are  associated  with  the 
name  of  Jefferson,  although  they  really  had  their  origin  in 
the  great  social  tendencies  of  the  time  and  in  the  circum- 
stances of  the  American  people.     The  love  of  philosophiz- 


300    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

ing  about  government  was  a  feature  in  the  life  of  the  second 
half  of  the  eighteenth  century.  The  method  of  philos- 
ophizing on  assumptions  was  the  only  one  employed. 
The  Americans,  with  meager  experience  and  high  purposes, 
readily  took  refuge  in  abstractions.  The  habit  of  pursuing 
two  or  three  occupations  at  once  destroyed  respect  for 
special  or  technical  knowledge.  There  seemed  to  be  nothing 
unreasonable  in  referring  a  question  of  jurisprudence  or  in- 
ternational law  to  merchants,  farmers,  and  mechanics,  for 
them  to  give  an  opinion  on  it  as  a  mere  incident  in  their 
regular  occupations.  Jefferson  himself  could  sit  down  and 
develop  out  of  his  own  consciousness  a  plan  for  fortifications 
and  a  navy,  for  a  nation  in  imminent  danger  of  war,  with 
no  more  misgivings,  apparently,  than  if  he  was  planning 
an  alteration  on  his  estate. 

"The  further  democracy  was  pushed,  first  in  theory, 
then  in  practice,  the  more  completely  was  the  belief  in  the 
equality  of  all  [in  rights  and  privileges]  converted,  in  the 
minds  of  the  masses,  into  the  belief  in  the  equal  ability  of 
all  to  decide  political  questions  of  every  kind.  The  prin- 
ciple of  mere  numbers  gradually  supplanted  the  principle 
of  reflection  and  study."  This  tendency  reaches  its  climax 
in  the  popular  doctrines  that  every  man  has  a  right  to  his 
opinion  and  that  one  man's  opinion  is  as  good  as  another's. 
We  have  abundant  illustration  of  the  might  which  it  gives 
to  "the  phrase." 

It  has  been  well  said  that  "men  can  reason  only  from 
what  they  know"  —  a  doctrine  which  would  reduce  the 
amount  of  reasoning  to  be  done  by  anybody  to  a  very 
little.  The  common  practice  is  to  reason  from  what  we 
do  not  know,  which  makes  every  man  a  philosopher. 

Jefferson's  election  was  the  first  triumph  of  the  tendency 
towards  democracy  —  a  triumph  which  has  never  yet  been 
reversed.  The  old  conservatism  of  the  former  administra- 
tions died  out,  and  it  is  important  to  observe  that,  from 


POLITICS   IN  AMERICA,  1776-1876  301 

this  time  on,  we  have  in  conflict  not  the  same  two  parties 
as  before,  but  only  factions  or  subdivisions  of  the  one  party 
which,  under  Washington  and  Adams,  was  in  opposition 
to  the  administration. 

The  event  did  not  justify  the  fears  which  were  enter- 
tained before  the  election.  Jefferson  did  not  surrender 
any  of  the  power  of  the  executive.  He  aggrandized  it  as 
neither  of  his  predecessors  would  have  dared  to  do.  He 
did  not  surrender  the  central  power  in  favor  of  states' 
rights;  and  his  foreign  policy,  governed  by  sympathy  to 
France  and  hatred  to  England,  was  only  too  sharp  and 
spirited.  It  seldom  happens  to  an  opposition  party,  com- 
ing into  power,  to  have  the  same  question  proposed  to  it 
as  to  its  predecessor,  and  to  put  its  own  policy  to  trial. 
This  happened  to  Jefferson.  Jay's  Treaty  was  hesitat- 
ingly signed  by  Washington,  and  it  gave  the  country  ten 
years  of  peace  and  neutrality.  Pinckney  and  Monroe's 
Treaty  was  rejected  by  Jefferson,  and  in  six  years  the  coun- 
try was  engaged  in  a  fruitless  war. 

Madison's  administration  revived  many  of  the  social 
usages  which  Jefferson  had  ostentatiously  set  aside,  in 
consistency  with  the  general  spirit  of  preference,  on  the 
ground  of  republican  simplicity,  for  what  is  common  over 
what  is  elegant  and  refined.  The  natural  tendency  of  the 
party  in  power  to  think  that  what  is  is  right,  and  that 
while  they  are  comfortable  other  people  ought  to  be  so, 
was  apparent  here.  It  went  on  so  far  during  Madison's 
first  term,  that  the  leaders  thought  it  necessary  to  break 
the  monotony  and  to  secure  again,  in  some  way,  the  readi- 
ness and  activity  of  political  life  which  had  prevailed  under 
Jefferson.  They  forced  Madison  into  the  war  with  England 
—  a  war  which  brought  disturbance  into  the  finances  and 
spread  distress  amongst  the  people,  which  won  some  glory 
at  sea  only  by  vindicating  the  old  Federalist  policy  in  re- 
gard to  a  navy,  but  which  was  marked  by  disaster  on  land 


302    THE  FORGOTTEN   MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

until  the  battle  of  New  Orleans.  At  the  return  of  peace 
in  Europe,  England  was  left  free  to  deal  with  the  United 
States,  and  a  peace  was  hastily  made  in  which  the  question 
of  impressment,  the  only  question  at  issue,  was  left  just 
where  it  had  been  at  the  beginning. 

There  ensued  in  our  internal  politics  an  "era  of  good 
feeling."  The  old  parties  no  longer  had  any  reason  to 
exist.  Some  of  the  Federal  doctrines  had  been  adopted. 
The  navy  was  secure  in  its  popularity.  The  Federal  finan- 
cial system  had  been  adopted  by  the  party  in  power.  They 
had  contracted  a  debt,  laid  direct  taxes,  and  enlisted  armies. 
When  confronted  by  problems  of  war  and  debt,  they  had 
found  no  better  way  to  deal  with  them  than  the  ways  which 
had  been  elaborated  by  the  older  nations,  and  which  they 
had  blamed  the  Federalists  for  adopting.  The  questions  of 
neutrality  had  disappeared  with  the  return  of  peace  in 
Europe.  The  fears  of  Jacobinism  on  the  one  hand  and 
of  monarchy  on  the  other  were  recognized  as  ridiculous.  If, 
however,  any  one  is  disposed  to  exaggerate  the  evils  of 
party,  he  ought  to  study  the  history  of  the  era  of  good 
feeling.  Political  issues  were  gone,  but  personal  issues  took 
their  place.  Personal  factions  sprang  up  around  each  of 
the  prominent  men  who  might  aspire  to  the  Presidency, 
and,  in  their  struggles  to  advance  their  favorites  and  destroy 
their  rivals,  they  introduced  into  politics  a  shameful  series 
of  calumnies  and  personal  scandals.  Every  candidate  had 
to  defend  himself  from  aspersions,  from  attacks  based  upon 
his  oflScial  or  private  life.  The  newspapers  were  loaded 
down  with  controversies,  letters,  documents,  and  evidence 
on  these  charges.  The  character  of  much  of  this  matter 
is  such  as  to  awaken  disgust  and  ridicule.  Mr.  A.  tells 
Mr.  B  that,  when  in  Washington,  he  was  present  at  a  din- 
ner at  the  house  of  Mr.  C  at  which  Mr.  D  said  that  he  came 
on  in  the  stage  with  Mr.  E,  who  told  him  that  Mr.  F  had 
seen  a  letter  from  Mr.  G,  a  supposed  friend  of  one  candi- 


POLITICS   IN  AMERICA,  1776-1876  303 

date,  to  Mr.  H,  the  friend  of  another  candidate,  making 
charges  against  the  first  candidate,  which  he  (Mr.  G)  felt 
bound  in  honor  to  make  known.  Mr.  B  publishes  his  in- 
formation, and  then  follow  long  letters  from  all  the  other 
gentlemen,  with  explanations,  denials,  corroborative  testi- 
mony, and  so  on,  in  endless  reiteration  and  confusion.  It 
was  another  noteworthy  feature  of  this  period,  that  every 
public  man  seemed  to  stand  ready  to  publish  a  "vindica- 
tion "  at  the  slightest  provocation,  and  that  in  these  vindi- 
cations a  confusion  between  character  and  reputation 
appears  to  be  universal. 

These  faction  struggles  culminated  in  the  campaign  of 
1824.  The  first  mention  of  General  Jackson  for  the  Presi- 
dency seems  to  be  in  a  letter  from  Aaron  Burr  to  his  son- 
in-law,  Alston  of  South  Carolina,  in  1815.  xA.n  effort  was 
being  made  to  form  a  party  against  the  Virginia  oligarchy. 
Those  who  were  engaged  in  it  sought  a  candidate  who 
might  be  strong  enough  to  secure  success.  Burr  justified 
his  reputation  as  a  politician  by  pointing  out  the  man,  but 
it  was  yet  too  soon.  The  standard  of  what  a  Federal  officer 
ought  to  be  was  yet  too  high.  The  Albany  Argus  said  of 
the  nomination,  in  1824:  "He  [Jackson]  is  respected  as  a 
gallant  soldier,  but  he  stands  in  the  minds  of  the  people  of 
this  state  at  an  immeasurable  distance  from  the  executive 
chair."  The  name  of  Jackson  was  used,  however,  in  con- 
nection with  the  Presidency,  by  various  local  conventions, 
during  1822  and  1823;  and,  although  the  nomination  was 
generally  met  with  indifference  or  contempt  in  the  North 
and  East,  it  soon  became  apparant  that  he  was  the  most 
dangerous  rival  in  the  field.  The  nominations  had  hitherto 
been  made  by  caucuses  of  the  members  of  Congress  of 
either  party.  Until  Jefferson's  second  nomination,  these 
had  been  held  under  a  decent  veil  of  secrecy.  Since  that 
time  they  had  exerted  more  and  more  complete  and  recog- 
nized control.     Crawford  was  marked  for  the  succession, 


304    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

although  he  was  under  some  discipHne  for  having  allowed 
his  name  to  be  used  in  the  caucus  of  1816  against  Monroe. 
The  opposing  candidates  now  discovered  that  caucus  nomi- 
nations were  evil,  and  joined  forces  in  a  movement  to  put 
an  end  to  them.  This  movement  gained  popular  approval 
on  general  principles.  When  the  caucus  was  called,  natur- 
ally only  the  friends  of  Crawford  attended  —  sixty-six  out 
of  two  hundred  and  sixteen  Republican  members.  The 
nomination  probably  hurt  him.  It  was  proudly  said  that 
King  Caucus  was  now  dethroned,  but  never  was  there  a 
greater  mistake.  He  had  only  just  come  of  age  and  es- 
caped from  tutelage.  He  was  about  to  enter  on  his  in- 
heritance. 

General  Jackson  obtained  the  greatest  number  of  votes 
in  the  electoral  college;  and  when  the  election  came  into 
the  House,  a  claim  was  loudly  put  forward  which  had  been 
feebly  heard  in  1801,  that  the  House  ought  simply  to  carry 
out  the  "will  of  the  people"  by  electing  him.  This  claim 
distinctly  raised  the  issue  which  has  been  described,  of 
democracy  against  the  Constitution.  Does  the  Constitu- 
tion give  the  election  to  the  House  in  certain  contingencies, 
or  does  it  simply  charge  it  with  the  duty  of  changing  a 
plurality  vote  into  an  election.'*  No  one  had  a  majority, 
but  the  House  was  asked  really  to  give  to  a  major  vote  the 
authority  which,  even  on  the  democratic  theory,  belongs  to 
a  majority. 

The  election  could  not  but  result  in  the  discontent  of 
three  candidates  and  their  adherents,  but  the  Jackson 
party  was  by  far  the  most  discontented  and  most  clamor- 
ous. They  proceeded  to  organize  and  labor  for  the  next 
campaign.  They  were  shrewd,  active  men,  who  knew  well 
the  arena  and  the  science  of  the  game.  They  offered  to 
Adams's  administration  a  ruthless  and  relentless  opposi- 
tion. There  were  no  great  party  issues;  indeed,  the  coun- 
try  was  going  through  a  period  of  profound  peace    and 


POLITICS   IN  AMERICA,  1776-1876  305 

prosperity  which  offered  little  material  for  history  and 
little  occasion  for  active  political  combat.  The  adminis- 
tration was  simple  and  businesslike  and  conducted  the 
affairs  of  the  government  with  that  smoothness  and  quiet 
success  which  belong  to  the  system  in  times  of  peace  and 
prosperity.  Mr.  Adams  was  urged  to  consolidate  his  party 
by  using  the  patronage  of  the  executive,  and  the  opinion 
has  been  expressed  that,  if  he  had  done  so,  he  could  have 
won  his  reelection.     He  steadfastly  refused  to  do  this. 

The  truth  was  that  a  new  spirit  had  come  over  the 
country,  and  that  the  candidacy  of  Jackson  was  the  form 
in  which  it  was  seeking  admission  into  the  Federal  adminis- 
tration. Here  we  meet  with  one  of  the  great  difficulties  in 
the  study  of  American  political  history.  The  forces  which 
we  find  in  action  on  the  Federal  arena  have  their  origin  in 
the  political  struggles  and  personal  jealousies  of  local  poli- 
ticians, now  in  one  state  and  now  in  another;  and  the 
doctrines  which  are  propounded  at  Washington,  and  come 
before  us  in  their  maturity,  have  really  grown  up  in  the 
states.  Rotation  in  office  began  to  be  practiced  in  New 
York  and  Pennsylvania  at  the  beginning  of  the  century. 
The  Federalists  then  lost  power  in  those  states,  and  their 
political  history  consists  of  the  struggles  of  factions  in  the 
Republican  party.  Jefferson  and  Madison  taught  Democ- 
racy in  Virginia,  but  it  never  entered  their  heads  that  the 
"low-down  whites"  were  really  to  meddle  in  the  formative 
stage  of  politics.  They  expected  that  gentlemen  planters 
would  meet  and  agree  upon  a  distribution  of  offices,  and 
that  then  the  masses  should  have  the  privilege  of  electing 
the  men  they  proposed.  The  Clintons  and  Livingstones  in 
New  York  were  Democrats,  but  they  likewise  understood 
that,  in  practice,  they  were  to  distribute  offices  around  their 
dinner- tables. 

In  the  meantime  men  like  Duane  were  writing  essays  for 
farmers  and  mechanics,  which  were  read  from  one  end  of 


306    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

the  Union  to  the  other,  in  which  they  were  preaching  hos- 
tihty  to  banks  and  the  "money  power,"  hostihty  to  the 
judiciary  and  to  the  introduction  of  the  common  law  of 
England,  the  election  of  judicial  officers,  rotation  in  office, 
and  all  the  dogmas  which  we  generally  ascribe  to  a  much 
later  origin.  These  notions  even  found  some  practical  ap- 
plications, as  in  the  political  impeachment  of  judges  in 
Pennsylvania  in  1804  —  acts  which  fortunately  did  not 
become  precedents.  The  new  constitutions  which  were 
adopted  from  time  to  time  during  the  first  quarter  of  this 
century  show  the  slow  working  of  this  leaven,  together  with 
the  gradual  adoption  of  improvements  far  less  questionable. 
After  1810  began  also  the  series  of  great  inventions  which 
have  really  opened  this  continent  to  mankind.  The  steam- 
boat was  priceless  to  a  country  which  had  grand  rivers  but 
scarcely  any  roads.  In  1817  De  Witt  Clinton  persuaded 
New  York  to  commence  the  Erie  Canal,  and  before  it  was 
finished  scores  of  others  were  projected  or  begun.  Politi- 
cally and  financially  the  system  of  internal  improvements 
has  proved  disastrous,  but  those  enterprises  helped  on  the 
events  which  we  are  now  pursuing,  for  they  assisted  in 
opening  the  resources  of  the  continent  to  the  reach  of  those 
who  had  nothing.  The  great  mass  of  the  population  found 
themselves  steadily  gaining  in  property  and  comfort. 
Their  independence  and  self-reliance  expanded.  They  de- 
veloped new  traits  of  national  character,  and  intensified 
some  of  the  old  ones.  They  had  full  confidence  in  their 
own  powers,  feared  no  difficulties,  made  light  of  experience, 
were  ready  to  deal  offhand  with  any  problems,  laughed  at 
their  own  mistakes,  despised  science  and  study,  overesti- 
mated the  practical  man,  and  overesteemed  material 
good.  To  such  a  class  the  doctrines  of  democracy  seemed 
axiomatic,  and  they  ascribed  to  democracy  the  benefits 
which  accrued  to  them  as  the  first-comers  in  a  new  country. 
They  generally  believed  that  the  political  system  created 


POLITICS   IN  AMERICA,  1776-1876  307 

their  prosperity;  and  they  never  perceived  that  the  very 
bountifulness  of  the  new  country,  the  simpHcity  of  Hfe,  and 
the  general  looseness  of  the  social  organism,  allowed  their 
blunders  to  pass  without  the  evil  results  which  would  have 
followed  in  an  older  and  denser  community.  The  same 
causes  have  produced  similar  results  ever  since. 

Political  machinery  also  underwent  great  development 
during  the  first  quarter  of  the  century.  In  New  York  there 
was  perhaps  the  greatest  amount  of  talent  and  skill  em- 
ployed in  this  work,  and  the  first  engine  used  was  the  ap- 
pointing power.  The  opposing  parties  were  only  personal 
and  family  factions,  but  they  rigorously  used  power,  when 
they  got  it,  to  absorb  honors  and  places.  That  conception 
of  ofiSce  arose,  under  which  it  is  regarded  as  a  favor  con- 
ferred on  the  holder,  not  a  position  in  which  work  is  to  be 
done  for  the  public  service.  Hence  the  oflSce-holder  sat 
down  to  enjoy,  instead  of  going  to  work  to  serve.  If  some 
zealous  man  who  took  the  latter  view  got  into  oflSce,  he 
soon  found  that  he  could  count  upon  being  blamed  for  all 
that  went  amiss,  but  would  get  little  recognition  or  re- 
ward while  things  went  well,  and  that  the  safest  policy  was  to 
do  nothing.  The  public  was  the  worst  paymaster  and  the 
most  exacting  and  unjust  employer  in  the  country,  and  it 
got  the  worst  service.  The  consequence  was  that  the  early 
political  history  of  New  York  is  little  more  than  a  story  of 
the  combinations  and  quarrels  of  factions,  annual  elections, 
and  lists  of  changes  in  the  office-holders.  The  Clintons 
and  Livingstones  united  against  Burr,  who  was  the  center 
of  an  eager  and  active  and  ambitious  coterie  of  young  men, 
who  already  threatened  to  apply  democratic  doctrines 
with  a  consistency  for  which  the  aristocratic  families  were 
not  prepared.  Then  they  began  to  struggle  with  each 
other  until  the  Livingstones  were  broken  up.  Then  the 
"Martling  men"  and  the  Clintonians,  the  Madisonians 
and  the  Clintonians,  the  "Bucktails"  and  the  Clintonians, 


308    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

with  various  subdivisions,  kept  up  the  conflict  until  the 
Constitution  of  1821  altered  the  conditions  of  the  fight, 
and  Regency  and  Anti-regency,  or  Regency  and  People's 
Party,  or  Regency  and  Workingmen's  Party  became  the 
party  headings.  The  net  result  of  all  this  for  national 
politics  was  the  production  of  a  class  of  finished  "politi- 
cians," skilled  in  all  the  work  of  "organization"  which  in 
any  wide  democracy  must  be  the  first  consideration.  Some 
of  these  gentlemen  entered  the  national  arena  in  1824. 
The  Regency  was  then  supporting  Crawford  as  the  regular 
successor.  On  its  own  terms  it  could  have  been  won  for 
Adams,  but  this  arrangement  was  not  brought  about.  It 
did  not  require  the  astuteness  of  these  men  to  see  on  reflec- 
tion, that  Jackson  was  the  coming  man.  He  was  in  and  of 
the  rising  power.  He  represented  a  newer  and  more  rigor- 
ous application  of  the  Jeffersonian  dogmas.  His  manners, 
tastes,  and  education,  had  nothing  cold  or  aristocratic  about 
them.  He  had  never  been  trained  to  aim  at  anything  high, 
elegant,  and  refined,  and  had  not  been  spoiled  by  contact 
with  those  who  had  developed  the  art  of  life.  He  had, 
moreover,  the  great  advantage  of  military  glory.  He  had 
bullied  a  judge,  but  he  had  won  the  battle  of  New  Orleans. 
He  had  hung  a  man  against  the  verdict  of  a  court-martial, 
but  the  man  was  a  British  emissary.  It  was  clear  that  a 
tide  was  rising  which  would  carry  him  into  the  Presiden- 
tial chair,  and  it  behooved  other  ambitious  men  to  cling  to 
his  skirts  and  be  carried  up  with  him. 

It  is  in  and  around  the  tariff  of  1828  that  the  conflict 
centers  in  which  these  various  forces  were  combined  or 
neutralized  to  accomplish  the  result.  The  student  of 
our  economic  or  political  history  cannot  pay  too  close 
study  to  that  crisis.  For  the  next  fifteen  years  the  finan- 
cial and  political  questions  are  inextricably  interwoven. 

The  election  of  Jackson  marks  a  new  era  in  our  political 
history.     A  new  order  of  men  appeared  in  the  Federal  ad- 


POLITICS   IN  AMERICA,  1776-1876  309 

ministration.  The  whole  force  of  local  adherents  of  the 
new  administration,  who  had  worked  for  it  and  therefore 
had  claims  upon  it,  streamed  to  Washington  to  get  their 
reward.  It  seems  that  Jackson  was  forced  by  the  rapacity 
of  this  crowd  into  the  "reformation"  of  the  government. 
The  political  customs  which  had  grown  up  in  New  York 
and  Pennsylvania  were  transferred  to  Washington.  Mr. 
Marcy,  in  a  speech  in  the  Senate,  January  24,  1832,  on 
Van  Buren's  nomination  as  minister  to  England,  boldly 
stated  the  doctrine  that  to  the  victors  belong  the  spoils, 
avowing  it  as  a  doctrine  which  did  not  seem  to  him  to  call 
for  any  delicacy  on  the  part  of  politicians.  In  fact,  to  men 
who  had  grown  up  as  Mr.  Marcy  had,  habit  in  this  respect 
must  have  made  that  doctrine  seem  natural  and  necessary 
to  the  political  system.  The  New  York  politicians  had 
developed  an  entire  code  of  political  morals  for  all  branches 
and  members  of  the  political  party  machine.  They  had 
studied  the  passions,  prejudices,  and  whims  of  bodies  of 
men.  They  had  built  up  an  organization  in  which  all  the 
parts  were  adjusted  to  support  and  help  one  another.  The 
subordinate  officers  looked  up  to  and  sustained  the  party 
leaders  while  carrying  the  party  machinery  into  every  nook 
and  comer  of  the  state,  and  the  party  leaders  in  turn  cared 
for  and  protected  their  subordinates.  Organization  and 
discipline  were  insisted  upon  throughout  the  party  as  the 
first  political  duty.  There  is  scarcely  a  phenomenon 
more  interesting  to  the  social  philosopher  than  to  observe, 
under  a  political  system  remarkable  for  its  looseness  and 
lack  of  organization,  the  social  bond  returning  and  vindi- 
cating itself  in  the  form  of  party  tyranny,  and  to  observe 
under  a  political  system  where  loyalty  and  allegiance  to 
the  Commonwealth  are  only  names,  how  loyalty  and  al- 
legiance to  party  are  intensified.  It  is  one  of  the  forms 
under  which  the  constant  peril  of  the  system  presents  it- 
self, namely,  that  a  part  may  organize  to  use  the  whole  for 


310    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

narrow  and  selfish  ends.  The  idea  of  the  commonwealth 
is  lost  and  the  public  arena  seems  only  a  scrambling- 
ground  for  selfish  cliques.  In  the  especial  case  of  the  New 
York  factions,  this  was  all  intensified  by  the  fact  that  there 
were  no  dignified  issues,  no  real  questions  of  public  policy 
at  stake,  but  only  factions  of  the  ins  and  the  outs, 
struggling  for  the  spoils  of  office.  Naturally  enough,  the 
contestants  thought  that  to  the  victors  belong  the  spoils 
—  otherwise  the  contest  had  no  sense  at  all.  In  this  system, 
now,  fidelity  to  a  caucus  was  professed  and  enforced.  Bolt- 
ing, or  running  against  a  regular  nomination,  were  high 
crimes  which  were  rarely  condoned.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  leaders  professed  the  doctrine  that  a  man  who  sur- 
rendered his  claims  for  the  good  of  the  party,  or  who  stood 
by  the  party,  must  never  be  allowed  to  suffer  for  it.  The 
same  doctrines  had  been  accepted  more  or  less  at  Washing- 
ton, but  in  a  feeble  and  timid  way.  From  this  time  they  grew 
into  firm  recognition.  Under  their  operation  politics  became 
a  trade.  The  public  officer  was,  of  necessity,  a  politician,  and 
the  work  by  which  he  lived  was  not  service  in  his  official  duty, 
but  political  party  labor.  The  tenure  of  office  was  so  in- 
secure and  the  pay  so  meager,  that  few  men  of  suitable 
ability  could  be  found  who  did  not  think  that  they  could 
earn  their  living  more  easily,  pleasantly,  and  honorably  in 
some  other  career.  Public  service  gravitated  downwards 
to  the  hands  of  those  who,  under  the  circumstances,  were 
willing  to  take  it.  It  presented  some  great  prizes  in  the 
form  of  collectorships,  etc.,  the  remuneration  for  which 
was  in  glaring  contrast  with  the  salaries  of  some  of  the 
highest  and  most  responsible  officers  in  the  government; 
but,  for  the  most  part,  the  public  service  fell  into  the  hands 
of  men  who  were  exposed  to  the  temptation  to  make  it  pay. 
After  the  general  onslaught  on  the  caucus,  in  1824,  it  fell 
into  disuse  as  a  means  of  nominating  state  officers,  and 
conventions  took  its  place.     At  first  sight  this  seemed  to 


POLITICS   IN  AMERICA,  1776-1876  311 

be  a  more  complete  fulfillment  of  the  democratic  idea.  The 
people  were  to  meet  and  act  on  their  own  motion.  It  was 
soon  found,  however,  that  the  only  change  was  in  the  neces- 
sity for  higher  organization.  In  the  thirties  there  was  indeed 
a  fulfillment  of  the  theory  which  seems  now  to  have  passed 
away;  there  was  a  spontaneity  and  readiness  in  assem- 
bling and  organizing  common  action  which  no  longer  exists; 
there  was  a  public  interest  and  activity  far  beyond  what  is 
now  observable.  One  is  astonished  at  the  slight  occasion 
on  which  meetings  were  held,  high  excitement  developed, 
and  energetic  action  inaugurated.  The  anti-Masonic  move- 
ment, from  1826  to  1832,  is  a  good  instance.  The  "Liberty 
party"  (Abolitionists),  the  "Native  Americans,"  the  "Anti- 
renters,"  all  bear  witness  to  a  facility  of  association  which 
certainly  does  not  now  exist.  It  is,  however,  an  indis- 
pensable prerequisite  to  the  pure  operation  of  the  machinery 
of  caucus  and  convention.  The  effort  to  combine  all  good 
men  has  been  talked  about  from  the  beginning,  but  it  has  al- 
ways failed  on  account  of  the  lack  of  a  bond  between  them 
as  strong  as  the  bond  of  interest  which  unites  the  factions. 
During  the  decade  from  1830  to  1840  a  whole  new  set  of 
machinery  was  created  to  fit  the  new  arrangements.  This 
consisted  in  committees,  caucuses,  and  conventions,  rami- 
fying down  finally  into  the  wards  of  great  cities,  and  guided 
and  handled  by  astute  and  experienced  men.  Under  their 
control  the  initiative  of  "the  people"  died  out.  The  public 
saw  men  elected  whom  they  had  never  chosen,  and  measures 
adopted  which  they  had  never  desired,  and  themselves,  in 
short,  made  the  sport  of  a  system  which  cajoled  and  flat- 
tered while  it  cheated  them.  If  a  governor  had  been  elected 
by  some  political  trickery  a  little  more  flagrant  than  usual, 
he  was  very  apt,  in  his  inaugural,  to  draw  a  dark  picture  of 
the  effete  monarchies  of  the  Old  World,  and  to  congratu- 
late the  people  on  the  blessings  they  enjoyed  in  being  able 
to  choose  their  own  rulers. 


312    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

This  period  was  full  of  new  energy  and  turbulent  life. 
Railroads  were  just  beginning  to  carry  on  the  extension  of 
production  which  steamboats  and  canals  had  begun.  Im- 
migration was  rapidly  increasing.  The  application  of  an- 
thracite coal  to  the  arts  was  working  a  revolution  in  them. 
On  every  side  reigned  the  greatest  activity.  Literature 
and  science,  which  before  had  had  but  a  meager  existence, 
were  coming  into  life.  The  public  journals,  which  had 
formerly  been  organs  of  persons  and  factions,  or  substi- 
tutes for  books,  now  began  to  be  transformed  into  the 
modem  newspaper.  The  difficulties  and  problems  pre- 
sented by  all  this  new  life  were  indeed  great,  and  the 
tasks  of  government,  as  well  to  discriminate  between  what 
belonged  to  it  and  what  did  not,  as  to  do  what  did  belong 
to  it,  were  great.  On  the  general  principles  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party  of  the  day  in  regard  to  the  province  of  govern- 
ment, history  has  already  passed  the  verdict  that  they 
were  sound  and  correct.  On  the  main  questions  which 
divided  the  administration  and  the  opposition,  it  must  pass 
a  verdict  in  favor  of  the  administration.  These  issues 
were  not  indeed  clear  and  the  parties  did  not,  as  is  generally 
supposed,  take  sides  upon  them  definitely.  Free  trade, 
so  far  as  it  was  represented  by  the  compromise  tariff,  was 
the  result  of  a  coalition  between  Clay  and  Calhoun  against 
the  administration,  after  Calhoun's  quarrel  with  Jackson 
had  led  the  latter  to  revoke  the  understanding  in  accord- 
ance with  which  Calhoun  retired  from  the  contest  of  1824 
and  took  the  second  place.  The  South  was  now  in  the 
position  in  which  the  northeastern  states  had  found  them- 
selves at  the  beginning  of  the  century.  The  Southerners 
considered  that  the  tariff  of  1828  had  subjected  their  in- 
terests to  those  of  another  section  which  held  a  major- 
ity in  the  general  government,  and  that  the  Union  was 
being  used  only  as  a  means  of  so  subjecting  them. 
They  seized  upon  the  Kentucky  and  Virginia  resolutions 


POLITICS   IN   AMERICA,  1776-1876  313 

of  1798,  which  Jefferson  and  Madison  had  drawn  when  in 
opposition,  as  furnishing  them  a  ground  of  resistance,  and 
threw  into  the  tariff  question  no  less  a  stake  than  civil  war 
and  disunion.  On  this  issue  there  were  no  parties.  South 
Carolina  stood  alone. 

Banks  had  been  political  questions  in  the  states  and  in 
the  general  government  from  the  outset.  The  history  of 
Pennsylvania  and  New  York  furnishes  some  great  scandals 
under  this  head.  From  time  to  time,  the  methods  of  banking 
employed  had  called  down  the  condemnation  of  the  most 
conservative  and  sensible  men,  and  had  aroused  some 
less  well-balanced  of  judgment  to  indiscriminate  hostility. 
Jackson's  attack  on  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  sprang 
from  a  political  motive,  and  he  proposed  instead  of  it  a 
bank  on  the  "credit  and  revenues  of  the  government"  — 
a  proposition  too  vague  to  be  understood,  but  which  sug- 
gested a  grand  paper-machine,  at  a  time  when  the  Bank 
of  the  United  States  was  at  its  best.  This  attack  rallied 
to  itself  at  once  all  the  local  banks;  the  great  victory 
of  1832  was  not  a  victory  for  hard  money  so  much  as  it 
was  a  victory  of  the  state  banks  over  the  national  bank. 
The  removal  of  the  deposits  was  a  reckless  financial  step, 
and  the  crash  of  1837  was  its  direct  result. 

The  traditional  position  of  the  Democratic  party  on 
hard  money  has  another  source.  In  1835  a  party  sprang 
up  in  New  York  City,  as  a  faction  of  Tammany,  which  took 
the  name  of  the  "Equal  Rights  party,"  but  which  soon 
received  the  name  of  the  "Locofoco  party"  from  an  in- 
cident which  occurred  at  Tammany  Hall,  and  which  is  sig- 
nificant of  the  sharpness  of  party  tactics  at  the  time.  This 
party  was  a  radical  movement  inside  of  the  administration 
party.  It  claimed,  and  justly  enough,  that  it  had  returned 
to  the  Jeffersonian  fountain  and  drawn  deeper  and  purer 
waters  than  the  Jacksonian  Democrats.  It  demanded 
equaHty  with  a  new  energy,  and  in  its  denunciations  of 


314    THE  FORGOTTEN   MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

monopolies  and  banks  went  very  close  to  the  rights  of 
property.  It  demanded  that  all  charters  should  be  re- 
pealable,  urgently  favored  a  metallic  currency,  resisted  the 
application  of  English  precedents  in  law  courts  and  legis- 
latures, and  desired  an  elective  judiciary.  It  lasted  as  a 
separate  party  only  five  or  six  years,  and  then  was  cajoled 
out  of  existence  by  superior  political  tactics;  but  it  was  not 
without  reason  that  the  name  spread  to  the  whole  party, 
for,  laying  aside  certain  extravagances,  two  or  three  of  its 
chief  features  soon  came  to  be  adopted  by  the  Democrats. 
On  the  great  measures  of  public  policy,  therefore,  the 
position  of  the  administration  was  not  clear  and  thorough, 
but  the  tendency  was  in  the  right  direction,  especially  when 
contrasted  with  the  policy  urged  by  the  \Miigs.  In  re- 
gard to  internal  improvements,  the  administration  early 
took  up  a  position  which  the  result  fully  justified,  and  in 
its  opposition  to  the  distribution  of  the  surplus  revenue  its 
position  was  unassailable.  In  its  practical  administration 
of  the  government  there  is  less  ground  for  satisfaction  in 
the  retrospect.  Besides  the  general  lowering  of  tone  which 
has  been  mentioned,  there  were  scandals  and  abuses  which 
it  is  not  necessary  to  specify.  General  Jackson's  first 
cabinet  fell  to  pieces  suddenly,  under  the  effect  of  a  private 
scandal  and  of  the  President's  attempt  to  coerce  the  private 
social  tastes  of  his  cabinet,  or  rather  of  their  wives.  He 
held  to  the  doctrine  of  popularity,  and  its  natural  effect 
upon  a  man  of  his  temper,  without  the  sobriety  of  train- 
ing and  culture,  was  to  stimulate  him  to  lawless  self-will. 
He  regarded  himself  as  the  chosen  representative  of  the 
whole  people,  charged,  as  such,  with  peculiar  duties  over 
against  Congress.  The  "will  of  the  people"  here  received 
a  new  extension.  He  found  it  in  himself,  and  what  he 
found  there  he  did  not  hesitate  to  set  in  opposition  to  the 
will  of  the  people  as  this  found  expression  through  their  con- 
stitutional organs.     At  the  same  time  the  practice  of  "in- 


POLITICS  IN  AMERICA,  1776-1876  315 

structions"  marked  an  extension,  on  another  side,  of  the 
general  tendency  to  bring  public  action  closer  under  the 
control  of  changing  majorities. 

Van  Buren's  election  was  a  triumph  of  the  caucus  and 
convention,  which  had  now  been  reduced  to  scarcely  less 
exactitude  of  action  than  the  old  congressional  caucus.  Van 
Buren,  however,  showed  more  principle  than  had  been  ex- 
pected from  his  reputation.  He  had  to  bear  all  the  blame  for 
the  evil  fruits  resulting  from  the  mistakes  made  during  the 
last  eight  years.  Moving  with  the  radical  or  Locofoco  tend- 
ency, he  attempted  to  sever  bank  and  state  by  the  inde- 
pendent treasury,  and  in  so  doing  he  lost  the  support  of  the 
"Bank  Democrats."  This,  together  with  the  natural  political 
revulsion  after  a  financial  crisis,  lost  him  his  re-election. 

The  \Miig  party  was  rich  in  able  men,  which  makes  it 
the  more  astonishing  that  one  cannot  find,  in  their  politi- 
cal doctrines,  a  sound  policy  of  government.  The  national 
bank  may  still  be  regarded  as  an  open  question,  and  favor- 
ing the  bank  was  not  favoring  inconvertible  paper  money; 
but  their  policy  of  high  tariff  for  protection,  of  internal  im- 
provements, and  of  distribution  of  the  surplus  revenue,  has 
been  calamitous  so  far  as  it  has  been  tried.  They  also 
present  the  same  lack  of  political  sagacity  which  we  have 
remarked  in  the  Federalists,  whose  successors  in  general 
they  were.  They  oscillated  between  principle  and  ex- 
pediency in  such  a  way  as  to  get  the  advantages  of  neither; 
and  they  abandoned  their  best  men  for  available  men  at 
just  such  times  as  to  throw  away  all  their  advantages.  The 
campaign  of  1840  presents  a  pitiful  story.  There  are 
features  in  it  which  are  almost  tragic.  An  opportunity  for 
success  offering,  a  man  was  chosen  who  had  no  marks  of 
eminence  and  no  ability  for  the  position.  His  selection 
bears  witness  to  an  anxious  search  for  a  military  hero.  It 
resulted  in  finding  one  whose  glory  had  to  be  exhumed  from 
the  doubtful  tradition  of  a  border  Indian  war.     The  cam- 


316    THE  FORGOTTEN   MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

paign  was  marked  by  the  introduction  of  mass  meetings 
and  systematic  stump-speaking,  and  by  the  erection  of 
"log-cabins,"  which  generally  served  as  barrooms  for  the 
assembled  crowd,  so  that  many  a  man  who  went  to  a 
drunkard's  grave  twenty  or  thirty  years  ago  dated  his  ruin 
from  the  "hard-cider  campaign."  After  the  election  it 
proved  that  hungry  Whigs  could  imitate  the  Democrats  of 
1829  in  their  clamor  for  office,  and,  if  anything,  better  the 
instruction.  The  President's  death  was  charged  partly  to 
worry  and  fatigue.  It  left  Mr.  Tyler  President,  and  the 
question  then  arose  what  Mr.  Tyler  was  —  a  question  to 
which  the  convention  at  Harrisburg,  fatigued  with  the 
choice  between  Clay  and  Harrison,  had  not  given  much 
attention.  It  was  foimd  that  he  was  such  that  the  Whig 
victory  turned  to  ashes.  No  bank  was  possible,  no  dis- 
tribution was  possible,  and  only  a  tariff  which  was  lame 
and  feeble  from  the  WTiig  point  of  view.  The  cabinet 
resigned,  leaving  Mr.  Webster  alone  at  his  post.  In  vain, 
like  a  true  statesman,  he  urged  the  Wliigs  to  rule  with 
Mr.  Tyler,  since  they  had  got  him  and  could  not  get  rid 
of  him  or  get  anybody  else.  Like  a  true  statesman,  again, 
he  remained  at  his  post,  in  spite  of  misrepresentation,  until 
he  could  finish  the  English  treaty,  and  it  was  another  fea- 
ture of  the  story  that  he  lost  position  with  his  party  by  so 
doing.  The  system  did  not  allow  Mr.  Webster  the  highest 
reward  of  a  statesman,  to  plan  and  mold  measures  so  as 
to  impress  himself  on  the  history  of  his  country.  It  al- 
lowed him  only  the  work  of  reducing  to  a  minimum  the 
harm  which  other  people's  measures  were  likely  to  do.  In 
the  circumstances  of  the  time  war  with  England  was  im- 
minent, and  there  was  good  reason  for  fear  if  the  negotia- 
tion were  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  men  whom  Mr.  Tyler 
was  gathering  about  him.  The  Whigs  were  broken  and 
discouraged,  and  as  their  discipline  had  always  been  far 
looser  than  that  of  their  adversaries,  they  seemed  threatened 


POLITICS   IN  AMERICA,  1776-1876  317 

with  disintegration.  The  other  party,  however,  was  di- 
vided by  local  issues  and  broken  into  factions.  Its  dis- 
cipline had  suffered  injury,  and  its  old  leaders  had  lost 
their  fire  while  new  ones  had  not  arisen  to  take  their  places. 
The  western  states  were  growing  into  a  size  and  influence  in 
the  confederation  which  made  it  impossible  for  two  or  three 
of  the  old  states  to  control  national  politics  any  longer. 

In  this  state  of  things  the  southern  leaders  came  for- 
ward to  give  impetus  and  direction  to  the  national  ad- 
ministration. They  had,  what  the  southern  politicians 
always  had,  leisure  for  conference.  They  had  also  char- 
acter and  social  position,  and  a  code  of  honor  which  en- 
abled them  to  rely  on  one  another  without  any  especial 
bond  of  interest  other  than  the  general  one.  They  had 
such  a  bond,  common  and  complete,  in  their  stake  in 
slavery.  They  could  count,  without  doubt  or  danger,  on 
support  throughout  their  entire  section.  They  had  a  fixed 
program  also,  which  was  an  immense  advantage  for  en- 
tering on  the  control  of  a  mass  of  men  under  no  especial 
impetus.  They  had  besides  their  traditional  alliance  with  the 
Democrats  of  the  North  —  an  alliance  which  always  was 
unnatural  and  illogical,  and  which  now  turned  to  the  per- 
version of  that  party.  They  prepared  their  principles, 
doctrines,  and  constitutional  theories  to  fit  their  plans. 

Difficulties  with  Mexico  in  regard  to  Texas  had  arisen 
during  Jackson's  administration.  These  difficulties  seemed 
to  be  gratuitous  and  unjust  on  the  part  of  the  United  States, 
and  they  seemed  to  be  nursed  by  the  same  power.  The 
diplomatic  correspondence  on  this  affair  is  not  pleasant 
reading  to  one  who  would  see  his  country  honorable  and 
upright,  as  unwilling  to  bully  as  to  be  bullied.  Such  was 
not  the  position  of  the  United  States  in  this  matter. 

It  was  determined  by  the  southern  leaders  to  annex 
Texas  to  the  United  States,  and  to  this  end  they  seized 
upon  the  political  machinery  and  proceeded  to  employ  it. 


318    THE  FORGOTTEN   MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

The  election  of  Polk  is  another  of  the  points  to  which  the 
student  of  American  politics  should  give  careful  attention. 
The  intrigues  which  surrounded  it  have  never  been  more 
than  partially  laid  bare,  but,  if  fairly  studied,  they  give 
deep  insight  into  the  nature  of  the  forces  which  operate 
in  the  name  of  the  will  of  the  people.  The  slavery  issue 
was  here  introduced  into  American  politics;  and  when  that 
question  was  once  raised,  it  "could  not  be  settled  until  it 
was  settled  right."  For  ten  years  efforts  were  made  to 
keep  the  issue  out  of  politics  and  to  prevent  parties  from 
dividing  upon  it.  What  was  desired  was  that  the  old 
parties  should  stand  in  name  and  organization,  in  order 
that  they  might  be  used,  while  the  actual  purposes  were 
obtained  by  subordinate  means.  A  party  with  an  organi- 
zation and  discipline,  and  a  history  such  as  the  Democratic 
party  had  in  1844,  is  a  valuable  property.  It  is  like  a  well- 
trained  and  docile  animal  which  will  go  through  the  ap- 
pointed tasks  at  the  given  signal.  It  disturbs  the  discipline 
to  introduce  new  watchwords  and  to  depart  from  the  rou- 
tine, in  order  to  use  reason  instead  of  habit.  Hence  the  effort 
is  to  reduce  the  new  and  important  issues  to  subordinate 
places,  to  carry  them  incidentally,  while  the  old  common- 
places hold  together  the  organization.  It  is  safe  to  say, 
however,  that,  in  the  long  run,  the  true  issues  are  sure  to 
become  the  actual  issues,  and  that  delay  and  deceit  only 
intensify  the  conflict. 

Upon  Polk's  election  the  independent  treasury  and  com- 
parative free  trade  were  fixed  in  the  policy  of  the  govern- 
ment for  fifteen  years,  with  such  beneficial  results  as  to 
render  them  the  proudest  traditions  of  the  party  which 
adopted  them. 

Mr.  Calhoun  had  abandoned  the  opposition  during  Van 
Buren's  administration,  and  had  begun  to  form  and  lead 
the  southern  movement.  His  own  mind  moved  too  rapidly 
for  his  adherents,  and  he  could  not  bring  them  to  support 


POLITICS  IN  AMERICA,  1776-1876  319 

him  up  to  the  positions  which  he  considered  it  necessary 
to  take;  but,  even  as  it  was,  the  steps  of  the  southern 
program  came  out  with  a  rapidity,  and  were  of  a  character, 
to  shock  the  imperfectly  prepared  northern  allies.  The 
Democratic  party  of  the  North  was  not  a  proslavery  party. 
Whigs  and  Democrats  at  the  North  united  in  frowning 
down  Abolition  excitements,  and  in  maintaining  the  com- 
promises of  the  Constitution.  Old-line  Whigs  and  hunker 
Democrats  agreed  in  the  conservatism  which  resisted  the 
introduction  of  this  question;  but  when,  in  1844,  Van 
Buren  was  asked,  as  a  test  question  to  a  candidate,  whether 
he  would  favor  the  annexation  of  Texas,  the  subject  of 
slavery  in  the  territories  was  thrown  into  the  political 
arena  from  the  southern  side.  It  was  not  then  a  question 
of  abolishing  slavery  in  the  southern  states,  which  could 
not  have  obtained  discussion  except  in  irresponsible  news- 
papers and  on  irresponsible  platforms.  It  was  not  a  ques- 
tion of  spreading  slavery  into  the  old  territories,  for  Texas 
and  the  Indian  Territory  barred  the  way  to  all  which  the 
Missouri  Compromise  left  open.  It  was  now  a  question  of 
taking  or  buying  or  conquering  new  territory  for  slavery, 
and  every  one  knew  well  that  the  chief  reason  for  the  re- 
volt of  Texas  was  that  Mexico  had  abolished  slavery.  The 
South  indeed  claimed  to  have  suffered  aggressions  and  en- 
croachments in  regard  to  slavery  ever  since  the  adoption 
of  the  Constitution,  and  the  attempt  was  now  to  be  made 
to  secure  recompense.  In  the  form  in  which  the  proposi- 
tion came  up  it  was  no  slight  shock  to  those  who  had  always 
been  in  alliance  with  the  South.  Party  men  like  Van  Buren 
and  Benton  drew  back.  Southerners  like  Clay  resisted. 
The  actual  clash  of  arms,  fraudulently  brought  about  and 
speciously  misrepresented,  put  an  end  to  discussion,  and 
aroused  a  war  fever  under  the  pernicious  motto,  "Our 
country,  right  or  wrong."  If  we  are  a  free  people  and 
govern  ourselves,  our  country  is  ourselves,  and  we  have 


320    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

no  guaranty  of  right  and  injustice  if  we  throw  those  stand- 
ards behind  us  the  moment  we  have  done  wrong  enough 
to  find  ourselves  at  war.  The  war  ended,  moreover,  in  an 
acquisition  of  territory,  which,  of  course,  was  popular; 
and  it  proved  that  this  territory  was  rich  in  precious  metals, 
which  added  to  the  popular  estimate  of  it.  The  ante- 
cedents of  the  war  were  forgotten. 

Its  political  results,  however,  were  far  more  important. 
Calhoun  now  came  forward  to  ward  off  a  long  conflict  in 
regard  to  slavery  in  these  territories,  by  the  new  doctrine 
that  the  Constitution  extended  to  all  the  national  domain, 
and  carried  slavery  with  it  —  a  doctrine  which  his  fol- 
lowers did  not,  for  ten  years  afterwards,  dare  to  take  up 
and  rigorously  apply,  and  which  divided  the  Democratic 
party  of  the  North.  The  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Com- 
promise and  the  enactment  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  were 
only  steps  in  the  conflict  which  was  as  yet  confused,  but 
which  was  clearing  itself  for  a  crisis.  The  South,  like  every 
clamorous  suitor,  reckless  of  consequences,  obtained  wide 
concessions  from  an  adversary  who  sought  peace  and  con- 
tentment, and  who  saw  clearly  the  dangers  of  a  struggle 
outside  the  limits  of  constitution  and  law. 

The  Abolitionists,  from  their  first  organization,  pursued 
an  "irreconcilable"  course.  They  refused  to  vote  for  any 
slaveholder,  or  for  any  one  who  would  vote  for  a  slave- 
holder, and  refused  all  alliances  which  involved  any  con- 
cession whatever.  They  more  than  once,  by  this  course, 
aided  the  party  most  hostile  to  them,  and,  in  the  view  of 
the  ordinary  politician,  were  guilty  of  great  folly.  They 
showed,  however,  what  is  the  power  of  a  body  which  has 
a  principle  and  has  no  ambition,  and  is  content  to  remain 
in  a  minority.  Probably  if  the  South  had  been  more  mod- 
erate, the  Abolitionists  would  have  attracted  little  more 
notice  than  a  fanatical  religious  sect;  but,  as  events  marched 


POLITICS   IN  AMERICA,  1776-1876  321 

on,  they  came  to  stand  as  the  leaders  in  the  greatest  politi- 
cal movement  of  our  history.  The  refusal  of  the  Whig 
Convention  of  1848  to  adopt  an  antislavery  resolution,  and 
the  great  acts  above  mentioned,  together  with  the  popular 
reaction  against  a  party  which,  if  it  had  had  its  way,  would 
never  have  won  the  grand  territories  on  the  Pacific,  de- 
stroyed the  Whig  party.  The  party  managers,  enraged  at 
the  immense  foreign  element  which  they  saw  added  year 
by  year  to  their  adversaries,  forming  a  cohort,  as  it  ap- 
peared, especially  amenable  to  party  discipline  and  the 
dictation  of  party  managers,  took  up  the  Native  Ameri- 
can movement,  which  had  had  some  existence  ever  since 
the  great  tide  of  immigration  set  in.  The  effort  was 
wrecked  on  the  obvious  economic  follies  involved  in  it. 
How  could  a  new  country  set  hindrances  against  the  immi- 
gration of  labor?  Politically,  the  effect  was  great  in  con- 
firming the  allegiance  of  naturalized  voters,  as  a  mass,  to 
the  Democratic  party  as  the  party  which  w^ould  protect 
their  political  privileges  against  malicious  attacks.  The 
formation  of  the  Free-Soil  party  or  its  development  into 
the  Republican  party,  brought  the  extension  of  slavery 
into  the  territories,  and  the  extension  of  its  influence  in 
the  administration  of  the  government,  distinctly  forward 
as  the  controlling  political  issue. 

■  On  this  issue  the  Democratic  party,  as  a  political  organi- 
zation, made  up  traditionally  of  the  southern  element 
which  has  been  described,  of  so  much  of  the  old  northern 
Democratic  party  as  had  not  been  repelled  by  the  recent 
.advances  in  Southern  demands,  and  of  the  large  body  of 
immigrants  who  regarded  that  party  as  the  poor  man's 
and  the  immigrant's  friend,  fell  out  of  the  place  it  had  occu- 
pied as  the  representative  of  the  great  democratic  tide 
which  flows  through  and  forms  our  political  history.  This 
movement  has  been  in  favor  of  equality.  It  has  borne 
down   and   obliterated    all   the   traditions    and   prejudices 


322    THE  FORGOTTEN   MAN  AND   OTHER  ESSAYS 

which  were  inherited  from  the  Old  World.  It  has  elimi- 
nated from  our  history  almost  all  recollection  of  the  old 
Federal  party,  with  its  ideas  of  social  and  political  leader- 
ship. It  has  crushed  out  the  prestige  of  wealth  and  educa- 
tion in  politics.  It  has,  by  narrow  tenures,  and  by  cutting 
away  all  terms  of  language  and  ceremonial  observances 
tending  to  mark  official  rank,  restrained  the  respect  and 
authority  due  to  office.  The  Northern  hatred  of  slavery  in  the 
later  days  was  due  more  to  the  feeling  that  it  was  undemo- 
cratic than  to  the  feeling  that  it  was  immoral.  It  was  al- 
ways an  anomaly  that  the  Virginians  should  be  democrats 
par  excellence,  and  should  regard  the  yeomen  farmers  of 
New  England  as  aristocrats,  when,  on  any  correct  defini- 
tions or  standards,  the  New  England  States  were  certainly 
the  most  democratic  commonwealths  in  the  world.  Slav- 
ery was  an  obvious  bar  to  any  such  classification ;  and  when 
slavery  became  a  political  issue,  the  parties  found  their  con- 
sistent and  logical  position.  The  rise  and  victory  of  the 
Republican  party  was  only  a  continuation  of  the  same 
grand  movement  for  equality.  The  old  disputes  between 
Federalists  and  Jeffersonians  had  ended  in  such  a  complete 
victory  for  the  latter,  that  the  rising  generation  would  have 
enumerated  the  Jeffersonian  doctrines  as  axioms  or  defini- 
tions of  American  institutions.  Every  schoolboy  could 
dogmatize  about  natural  and  inalienable  rights,  about  the 
conditions  under  which  men  are  created,  about  the  rights 
of  the  majority,  and  about  liberty.  The  same  doctrines 
are  so  held  to-day  by  the  mass  of  the  people,  and  they  are 
held  so  implicitly  that  corollaries  are  deduced  from  them 
with  a  more  fearless  logic  than  is  employed  upon  political 
questions  anywhere  else  in  the  world.  Even  scholars  and 
philosophers  who  reflect  upon  them  and  doubt  them  are 
slow  to  express  their  dissent,  so  jealous  and  quick  is  the 
popular  judgment  of  an  attempt  upon  them.  The  Demo- 
cratic party  of  the  fifties  was,  therefore,  false  to  its  funda- 


POLITICS   IN  AMERICA,  1776-1876  323 

mental  principle  of  equality  when  it  followed  its  alliance 
with  the  South  and  allowed  itself  to  be  carried  against 
equality  for  negroes.  "WTiether  there  were  not  subtle  prin- 
ciples of  human  nature  at  work  is  a  question  too  far-reach- 
ing to  be  followed  here. 

With  the  rise  of  the  Republican  party  there  came  new 
elements  into  iVmerican  politics.  The  question  at  stake 
was  moral  in  form.  It  enlisted  unselfish  and  moral  and 
religious  motives.  It  reached  outside  the  proper  domain 
of  politics  —  the  expedient  measures  to  be  adopted  for 
ends  recognized  as  desirable  —  and  involved  justice  and 
right  in  regard  to  the  ends.  It  enlisted,  therefore,  heroic 
elements:  sacrifice  for  moral  good,  and  devotion  to  right 
in  spite  of  expediency.  At  the  same  time,  the  issue  was 
clear,  simple,  single,  and  distinct.  The  organization  upon 
it  was  close  and  harmonious,  not  on  account  of  party  dis- 
cipline, but  on  account  of  actual  concord  in  motive  and 
purpose.  The  American  system  was  here  seen  in  many 
respects  at  its  best,  and  it  worked  more  nearly  up  to  its 
theoretical  results  in  the  election  of  Lincoln,  a  thoroughly 
representative  man  out  of  the  heart  of  the  majority,  than 
in  any  other  election  in  our  history.  It  is  probably  the  rec- 
ollection and  the  standard  of  this  state  of  things  which  leads 
men  now  on  the  stage  to  believe  that  corruption  is  spread- 
ing and  that  the  political  system  is  degenerating.  It  is 
one  of  the  peculiarities  of  the  government  of  the  United 
States,  that  it  has  little  historical  continuity.  If  it  had 
more,  or  if  people  had  more  knowledge  of  their  own  political 
history,  the  above-mentioned  opinion  would  find  little 
ground.  The  student  of  history  who  goes  back  searching 
for  the  golden  age  does  not  find  it. 

All  the  heroic  elements  in  the  political  issue  of  1860  were, 
of  course,  intensified  by  the  war.  There  was  the  conscious- 
ness of  patriotic  sacrifice  in  submitting  to  loss,  bloodshed, 
and  taxation  for  the  sake  of  an  idea,  for  the  further  exten- 


324    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

sion  of  political  blessings  long  enjoyed  and  highly  esteemed. 
After  the  war,  national  pride  and  consciousness  of  power 
expanded  naturally,  but  the  questions  which  then  arose 
were  of  a  different  order.  They  were  properly  political 
questions.  They  concerned  taxation,  finance,  the  reconstruc- 
tion of  the  South,  the  status  of  the  freedmen.  The  war 
fervor,  or  the  moral  fervor  of  the  political  contest,  could 
not  remain  at  the  former  high  pitch.  There  followed  a 
natural  reaction.  Questions  which  touched  the  results  of 
the  war  brought  a  quick  and  eager  response.  It  would 
not  be  in  human  nature  that  that  response  should  not  be 
tinged  by  hatred  of  rebels  and  by  the  worse  passions 
which  war  arouses.  For  war  is  at  best  but  a  barbarous 
makeshift  for  deciding  political  questions.  Let  them 
be  never  so  high  and  pure  in  their  moral  aspects,  war 
drags  them  down  into  contact  with  the  lowest  and  basest 
passions  —  with  cruelty,  rapacity,  and  revenge.  More- 
over, it  was  natural  that  people  should  want  rest  and 
quiet  after  the  anxiety  and  excitement  of  war.  Every 
householder  desired  to  enjoy  in  peace  the  political  system 
which  he  had  defended  and  established  by  war;  he  did 
not  care  to  renew  the  excitement  on  the  political  arena. 
The  questions  which  arose  were  no  longer  such  as  could 
be  decided  by  reference  to  a  general  political  dogma  or 
a  moral  principle  or  a  text  of  Scripture.  They  were  such 
as  to  perplex  and  baffle  the  wisest  constitutional  lawyer 
or  the  ablest  financier  or  the  wisest  statesman.  The  indif- 
ference and  apathy  wliich  ensued  were  remarkable,  and 
they  probably  had  still  other  causes.  The  last  twenty-five 
years  have  seen  immense  additions  to  the  number  and 
variety  of  subjects  which  claim  a  share  of  the  interest  and 
attention  of  intelligent  men.  Literature  has  taken  an 
entirely  new  extension  and  form.  Newspapers  bring  daily 
information  of  the  political  and  social  events  of  a  half- 
dozen    civilized    countries.      New    sciences    appeal   to    the 


POLITICS   IN  AMERICA,  1776-1876  325 

interest  of  the  entire  community.  Educational,  ecclesi- 
astical, sanitary,  and  economic  undertakings,  in  which  the 
public  welfare  is  involved,  demand  a  part  of  the  time  and 
effort  of  every  citizen.  At  the  same  time  trade  and  indus- 
try have  undergone  such  changes  in  form  and  method  that 
success  in  them  demands  far  closer  and  more  exclusive 
application  than  formerly.  The  social  organization  is 
becoming  more  complex,  the  division  of  labor  is  necessarily 
more  refined,  and  the  value  of  expert  ability  is  rapidly  rising. 
It  follows  from  all  this  that,  while  public  interests  are 
becoming  broader  and  weightier,  the  ability  of  the  average 
voter  to  cope  with  them  is  declinmg.  It  is  no  wonder  that 
we  have  not  the  pohtical  activity  of  the  first  half  of  this 
century.  Instead  of  grasping  at  the  right  to  a  share  in 
deciding,  we  shrink  from  the  responsibility.  We  are  more 
inclined  to  do  here  what  we  should  do  in  any  other  affair 
—  seek  for  competently  trained  hands  into  which  to  com- 
mit the  charge.  The  frequent  elections,  instead  of  afford- 
ing a  pleasurable  interest  to  the  ordinary  voter,  appear 
to  be  tiresome  interruptions.  WTiat  he  wants  is  good  gov- 
ernment, honorable  and  eflficient  administration,  business- 
like permanence,  and  exactitude.  He  recognizes  in  the 
short  terms  and  continual  elections,  not  an  opportunity 
for  him  to  control  the  government,  but  an  opportunity  for 
professional  hangers-on  of  parties  to  make  a  living,  and  a 
continually  recurring  opportunity  for  schemers  of  various 
grades  to  enter  and  carry  out  their  plans  when  people  are 
too  busy  to  watch  them.  The  opinion  seems  to  be  gaining 
ground  that,  for  fear  of  power,  we  have  eliminated  both 
eflaciency  and  responsibility;  that  if  power  is  united  with 
responsibility,  it  will  be  timid  and  reluctant  enough;  and 
that  the  voter  needs  only  reserve  the  right  of  supervision 
and  interference  from  time  to  time.  The  later  state  con- 
stitutions show  a  reaction  from  those  of  the  first  half  of 
the  century  in  the  length  of  terms  of  oflSce,  and  in  the  gen- 


326    THE   FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

eral  tendency  of  the  people  to  take  guaranties  against 
themselves  or  their  representatives.  There  seems  also  to 
be  a  tendency  to  investigate  the  theory  of  appointments 
or  elections  to  office  as  a  means  of  devising  measures  more 
satisfactory  to  that  end.  No  system  will  ever  give  a  self- 
governing  people  a  government  which  is  better  than  they 
can  appreciate;  but  the  very  belief,  to  which  we  have  before 
referred,  that  the  government  is  degenerating,  is  the  best 
proof  that  the  public  standards  as  to  the  personnel  and  the 
methods  of  the  government  are  rising.  It  seems  to  be  per- 
ceived that  the  plan  of  popular  selection  is  applicable  to 
executive  and  legislative  officers,  but  that  it  is  not  applica- 
ble to  the  judiciary  or  to  administrative  officers.  In  the 
one  case,  broad  questions  of  policy  control  the  choice;  in 
the  other  case,  personal  qualifications  and  technical  train- 
ing, in  regard  to  which  the  mass  of  voters  cannot  be 
informed  and  cannot  judge.  In  some  quarters,  an  unfortu- 
nate effort  has  been  made  to  charge  the  duty  of  making 
certain  appointments  upon  the  judges,  because,  as  a  class, 
they  retain  the  greatest  popular  confidence  and  because 
the  restraints  of  their  position  are  the  weightiest.  This,  how- 
ever, seems  to  be  using  up  our  last  reserves.  There  has  been 
abundant  criticism  of  political  movements  and  circum- 
stances of  late  years.  At  first  sight,  it  does  not  appear  to 
be  very  fruitful.  People  seem  to  pay  as  little  heed  to  it  as 
devout  Catholics  do  to  the  asserted  corruptions  of  the 
Church;  but  other  and  deeper  signs  point  to  a  conserva- 
tive movement,  slow,  as  all  popular  movements  must  be, 
but  nevertheless  real. 

The  political  party  system  which  had  been  developed 
previous  to  the  war  underwent  no  change  during  the  heroic 
period.  The  doctrines  of  spoils  and  of  rotation  in  office 
were  indeed  condemned,  but  it  appeared  (as  it  must  appear 
to  any  new  party  coming  into  office)  that  the  interests  at 
stake  were  too  great  to  be  risked  by  leaving  any  part  of 


POLITICS  IN  AMERICA,  1776-1876  327 

the  administration  in  the  hands  of  disaffected  men,  and, 
with  some  apologies,  the  changes  were  made.  It  is  the 
fate  of  the  party  in  power  to  draw  to  itself  all  the  unprin- 
cipled men  who  seek  to  live  by  politics,  and  to  lose  its  prin- 
cipled adherents  as,  on  one  question  after  another,  they 
disapprove  of  its  action.  The  moral  and  heroic  doctrines 
or  sentiments  of  the  Republican  party  were  just  the  political 
principles  which  offered  the  best  chance  to  the  unprincipled. 
A  man  of  Corrupt  character  could  "hate  slavery"  when 
that  was  the  line  of  popularity  and  success,  and  could  be 
"loyal"  when  only  loyal  men  could  get  offices.  The  politi- 
cal machinery  whose  growth  has  been  traced  was  adopted 
by  the  new  party  as  a  practical  necessity,  and  the  men 
"inside  politics"  still  teach  the  old  code  wrought  out  by 
Tammany  Hall  and  the  Albany  Regency,  not  only  as  the 
only  rules  of  success  for  the  ambitious  politician,  but  also  as 
the  only  sound  theories  on  which  the  Republic  can  be  gov- 
erned. In  those  quarters  where  hitherto  the  refinements 
of  the  system  have  all  been  invented,  a  new  and  ominous 
development  has  recently  appeared  in  the  shape  of  the 
"Boss."  He  is  the  last  and  perfect  flower  of  the  long  de- 
velopment at  which  hundreds  of  skilful  and  crafty  men 
have  labored,  and  into  which  the  American  people  have  put 
by  far  the  greatest  part  of  their  political  energy.  It  has 
been  observed  that  the  discipline  or  coercion  which  we 
dread  for  national  purposes  and  under  constitutional  forms 
appears  with  the  vigor  of  a  military  despotism  in  party; 
and  that  the  conception  of  loyalty,  for  which  we  can  find 
no  proper  object  in  our  system,  is  fully  developed  in  the 
party.  Under  this  last  development,  also,  we  find  leader- 
ship, aristocratic  authority  of  the  ablest,  nay,  even  the 
monarchical  control  of  the  party  king.  He  is  a  dictator 
out  of  oflBce.  He  has  power,  without  the  annoyance  or 
restraints  of  office.  He  is  the  product  of  a  long  process  of 
natural  selection.    He  has  arisen  from  the  ranks,  has  been 


328    THE  FOilGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

tried  by  various  tests,  has  been  trained  in  subordinate 
positions,  and  has  come  up  by  steady  promotions  —  all 
the  processes  which,  when  we  try  to  get  them  into  the 
public  service,  we  are  told  are  visionary  and  aristocratic. 
With  the  now  elaborate  system  of  committees  rising  in  a 
hierarchy  from  the  ward  to  the  nation,  with  the  elaborate 
system  of  primaries,  nominating  committees,  caucuses,  and 
conventions,  not  one  citizen  in  a  thousand  could  tell  the 
process  by  which  a  city  clerk  is  elected.  It  becomes  a 
special  trade  to  watch  over  and  manage  these  things,  and 
the  power  which  rules  is  not  the  "will  of  the  people,"  but 
the  address  with  which  "slates"  are  made  up.  Organiza- 
tion is  the  secret  by  which  the  branches  of  the  political 
machinery  are  manipulated,  when  they  are  not,  by  various 
devices,  reduced,  as  in  the  larger  cities,  to  mere  forms. 
In  these  cases  the  ring  and  the  "Boss"  are  the  natural  out- 
come. Any  one  who  gets  control  of  the  machine  can  run 
it  to  produce  what  he  desires,  with  the  exception,  perhaps, 
that  if  he  should  try  to  make  it  produce  good,  he  might 
find  that  this  involved  a  reverse  action  of  the  entire 
mechanism,  under  which  it  would  break  to  pieces.  These 
developments  are  as  yet  local,  for  the  plunder  of  a  great 
city  is  a  prize  not  to  be  abandoned  for  any  temptation 
which  the  general  government  can  offer.  In  some  cases 
they  are  hostile  to  the  power  of  the  Federal  oiBBce-holders 
where  that  is  greatest  and  most  dangerous,  so  that  they 
neutralize  each  other.  At  the  same  time  some  of  the  Fed- 
eral legislation  in  the  way  of  "protection"  and  subsidies 
offers  high  inducements  and  abundant  opportunities  for 
debauching  the  public  service.  There  are  afforded  by  the 
system  in  great  abundance  means  of  rewarding  adherents, 
distributing  largess,  collecting  campaign  funds,  and  perform- 
ing favors;  and  it  tends  to  bind  men  together  in  cliques 
up  and  down  through  the  service,  on  the  basis  of  mutual 
assistance  and  support  and  protection.     Suppose  that  the 


POLITICS  IN  AMERICA,  1776-1876  329 

ring  and  the  "Boss"  should  ever  be  ingrafted  upon  this 
system ! 

It  cannot  be  regarded  as  a  healthful  sign  that  such  a 
state  of  things  creates  only  a  laugh  or  a  groan  of  disgust 
or  at  best  a  critical  essay.  It  seems  sometimes  as  if  the 
prophecy  of  Calhoun  had  turned  into  history:  "^'Vhen  it 
comes  to  be  once  understood  that  politics  is  a  game,  that 
those  who  are  engaged  in  it  but  act  a  part,  and  that  they 
make  this  or  that  profession,  not  from  honest  conviction 
or  an  intent  to  fulfil  them,  but  as  a  means  of  deluding  the 
people,  and,  through  that  delusion,  acquiring  power,  — 
when  such  professions  are  to  be  entirely  forgotten,  the 
people  will  lose  all  confidence  in  public  men.  All  will  be 
regarded  as  mere  jugglers,  the  honest  and  patriotic  as  well 
as  the  cunning  and  profligate,  and  the  people  will  become 
indifferent  and  passive  to  the  grossest  abuses  of  power,  on 
the  ground  that  those  whom  they  may  elevate,  under  what- 
ever pledges,  instead  of  reforming,  will  but  imitate  the 
example  of  those  whom  they  have  expelled." 

In  the  final  extension  of  the  conception  of  the  "will  of 
the  people,"  and  of  the  position  of  Congress  in  relation  to 
it.  Congress  has  come  to  be  timid  and  faltering  in  the  face 
of  difficult  tasks.  It  knows  how  to  go  when  the  people 
have  spoken,  and  not  otherwise.  The  politician  gets  his 
opinions  from  the  elections,  and  the  legislature  wants  to 
be  pushed,  even  in  reference  to  matters  which  demand 
promptitude  and  energy.  Statesmanship  has  no  positive 
field  and  has  greatly  declined.  The  number  of  able  men 
who  formerly  gave  their  services  to  mold,  correct,  and 
hinder  legislation,  and  upon  whom  the  responsibility  for 
leading  on  doubtful  and  difficult  measures  could  be  thrown, 
has  greatly  decreased.  The  absence  of  "leaders"  has  often 
been  noticed.  The  fact  seems  to  be  that  able  men  have 
observed  that  such  statesmen  as  have  been  described  bore 
the  brunt  of  the  hard  work,  and  were  held  responsible  for 


330    THE  FORGOTTEN   MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

what  they  had  done  their  best  to  hinder;  that  they  cher- 
ished a  vain  hope  and  ambition  their  whole  lives  long,  and 
saw  inferior  men  without  talent  or  industry  perferred  be- 
fore them.  It  is  a  sad  thing  to  observe  the  tone  adopted 
towards  a  mere  member  of  Congress  as  such.  When  one 
reflects  that  he  is  a  member  of  the  grand  legislature  of  the 
nation,  it  is  no  gratifying  sign  of  the  times  that  he  should 
be  regarded  without  respect,  that  a  slur  upon  his  honor 
should  be  met  as  presumptively  just,  and  that  boys  should 
turn  flippant  jests  upon  the  office,  as  if  it  involved  a  dubi- 
ous reputation.  If  the  Republic  possesses  the  power  to 
meet  and  conquer  its  own  tasks,  it  cannot  too  soon  take 
measures  to  secure  a  representative  body  which  shall  re- 
spect itself  and  be  respected,  without  doubt  or  question, 
both  at  home  and  abroad;  for  the  times  have  changed  and 
the  questions  have  changed,  and  we  can  no  longer  afford 
to  govern  ourselves  by  means  of  the  small  men.  The  in- 
terests are  now  too  vast  and  complex,  and  the  greatest 
question  now  impending,  the  currency,  contains  too  vast 
possibilities  of  mischief  to  this  entire  generation  to  be  left 
the  sport  of  incompetents.  The  democratic  Republic 
exults  in  the  fact  that  it  has,  against  the  expectations  of 
its  enemies,  conducted  a  great  civil  war  to  a  successful 
result.  A  far  heavier  strain  on  democratic-republican  self- 
government  lies  in  the  questions  now  impending:  can 
we  ward  off  subsidy-schemers.'^  can  we  correct  administra- 
tive abuses?  can  we  purify  the  machinery  of  elections.^  can 
we  revise  erroneous  financial  systems  and  construct  sound 
ones?  The  war  appealed  to  the  simplest  and  commonest 
instincts  of  human  nature,  especially  as  human  nature  is 
developed  under  democratic  institutions.  The  questions 
before  us  demand  for  their  solution  high  intellectual  power 
and  training,  great  moderation  and  self-control,  and  per- 
haps no  less  disposition  to  endure  sacrifices  than  did  the 
war  itself. 


POLITICS  IN  AMERICA,  1776-1876  331 

Such  a  review  as  has  here  been  given  of  the  century  of 
American  politics  must  raise  the  question  as  to  whether  the 
course  has  been  upward  or  downward,  and  whether  the 
experiment  is  a  success  or  not.  On  such  questions  opinions 
might  fairly  differ,  and  I  prefer  to  express  upon  them  only 
an  individual  opinion. 

The  Federal  political  system,  such  as  it  is  historically  in 
the  intention  and  act  of  its  framers,  seems  to  me  open  to 
no  objection  whatever,  and  to  be  the  only  one  consistent 
with  the  circumstances  of  the  case.  I  have  pursued  here  a 
severe  and  exact  criticism  of  its  history,  as  the  only  course 
consistent  with  the  task  before  me,  and  the  picture  may 
seem  dark  and  ungratifying.  I  know  of  no  political  history 
which,  if  treated  in  the  same  unsparing  way,  would  appear 
much  better.  I  find  nothing  in  our  history  to  throw  doubt 
upon  the  feasibility  and  practical  advantage  of  a  constitu- 
tional Republic.  That  system,  however,  assumes  and  im- 
peratively requires  high  intelligence,  great  political  sense, 
self-sacrificing  activity,  moderation,  and  self-control  on  the 
part  of  the  citizens.  It  is  emphatically  a  system  for  sober- 
minded  men.  It  demands  that  manliness  and  breadth  of 
view  which  consider  all  the  factors  in  a  question,  submit 
to  no  sophistry,  never  cling  to  a  detail  or  an  objection  or 
a  side  issue  to  the  loss  of  the  main  point,  and,  above  all, 
which  can  measure  a  present  advantage  against  a  future 
loss,  and  individual  interest  against  the  common  good. 
These  requirements  need  only  be  mentioned  to  show  that 
they  are  so  high  that  it  is  no  wonder  we  should  have  fallen 
short  of  them  in  our  history.  The  task  of  history  is  to  show 
us  wherein  and  why,  so  that  we  may  do  better  in  future. 

If  the  above  sketch  of  our  political  history  has  been 
presented  with  any  success,  it  shows  the  judgment  which 
has  been  impressed  upon  my  mind  by  the  study  of  it, 
namely,  that  the  tenor  of  the  Constitution  has  undergone 
a  steady  remolding  in  history  in  the  direction  of  democ- 


332    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

racy.  If  a  written  constitution  were  hedged  about  by  all 
the  interpretations  conceivable,  until  it  were  as  large  as 
the  Talmud,  it  could  not  be  protected  from  the  historical 
process  which  makes  it  a  different  thing  to  one  generation 
from  what  it  is  to  another,  according  to  the  uses  and  needs 
of  each.  I  have  mentioned  the  forces  which  seem  to  me 
to  produce  democracy  here.  They  are  material  and  phys- 
ical, and  there  is  no  fighting  against  them.  It  is,  however, 
in  my  judgment,  a  corruption  of  democracy  to  set  up  the 
dogma  that  all  men  are  equally  competent  to  give  judg- 
ment on  political  questions;  and  it  is  a  still  worse  perver- 
sion of  it  to  adopt  the  practical  rule  that  they  must  be 
called  upon  to  exercise  this  ability  on  all  questions  as  the 
regular  process  for  getting  those  questions  solved.  The 
dogma  is  false,  and  the  practical  rule  is  absurd.  Caucus 
and  wire-pulling  and  all  the  other  abuses  are  only  parasites 
which  grow  upon  these  errors. 

Reform  does  not  seem  to  me  to  lie  in  restricting  the 
suffrage  or  in  other  arbitrary  measures  of  a  revolutionary 
nature.  They  are  impossible,  if  they  were  desirable.  Experi- 
ence is  the  only  teacher  whose  authority  is  admitted  in  this 
school,  and  I  look  to  experience  to  teach  us  all  that  the 
power  of  election  must  be  used  to  select  competent  men  to 
deal  with  questions,  and  not  to  indirectly  decide  the  ques- 
tions themselves.  I  expect  that  this  experience  will  be  very 
painful,  and  I  expect  it  very  soon. 

On  the  question  whether  we  are  degenerating  or  not,  I 
have  already  suggested  my  opinion  that  we  are  not  de- 
generating. The  lamentations  on  that  subject  have  never 
been  silent.  It  seems  to  me  that,  taking  the  whole  com- 
munity through,  the  tone  is  rising  and  the  standard  is  ad- 
vancing, and  that  this  is  one  great  reason  why  the  system 
seems  to  be  degenerating.  Existing  legislation  nourishes 
and  produces  some  startling  scandals,  which  have  great 
effect  on   people's   minds.     The  same  legislation   has   de- 


POLITICS   IN  AMERICA,  1776-1876  333 

moralized  the  people,  and  perverted  their  ideas  of  the 
functions  of  government  even  in  the  details  of  town  and 
ward  interests.  The  political  machinery  also  has  been  re- 
fined and  perfected  until  it  totally  defeats  the  popular  will, 
and  has  produced  a  kind  of  despair  in  regard  to  any  effort 
to  recover  that  of  which  the  people  have  been  robbed;  but 
I  think  that  it  would  be  a  great  mistake  to  suppose  that 
there  are  not,  behind  all  this,  quite  as  high  political  stand- 
ards and  as  sound  a  public  will  as  ever  before.  An  obvious 
distinction  must  be  made  here  between  the  administration 
of  the  government,  or  the  methods  of  party  politics,  and 
the  general  political  morale  of  the  people.  Great  scandals 
are  quickly  forgotten,  and  there  are  only  too  many  of  them 
throughout  our  history.  Party  methods  have  certainly  be- 
come worse  and  worse.  The  public  service  has  certainly 
deteriorated;  but  I  should  judge  that  the  political  will  of 
the  nation  never  was  purer  than  it  is  to-day.  That  will 
needs  instruction  and  guidance.  It  is  instructed  only 
slowly  and  by  great  effort,  especially  through  literary 
efiforts,  because  it  has  learned  distrust.  It  lacks  organiza- 
tion, and  its  efforts  are  spasmodic  and  clumsy.  The  proofs 
of  its  existence  are  not  very  definite  or  specific,  and  any  one 
in  expressing  a  judgment  must  be  influenced  by  the  circle 
with  which  he  is  most  familiar;  but  there  are  some  public 
signs  of  it,  which  are  the  best  encouragement  we  have 
to-day. 


THE  ADMINISTRATION  OF 
ANDREW  JACKSON 


THE  ADMINISTRATION  OFi 
ANDREW  JACKSON 

[1880] 

YOU    must    have    observed    that    the    social    sciences, 
including   politics   and    poHtical    economy,    are    the 
favorite  arena  of  those  who  would  like  to  engage  in  learned 
discussion  without  overmuch  trouble  in  the  way  of  prepa- 
ration.   I  doubt  not  that  you  have  also  been  struck  by  the 
fact  that  these  sciences  are  now  the  refuge  of  the  conceited 
dogmatism  which  has  been  expelled  from  the  physical  sci- 
ences.    It  follows  that  the  discussions  in  social  science  are 
the  widest,  the  most  vague,  the  most  imperative  in  form  of 
statement,  the  most  satisfactory  to  the  writers,  the  least 
convincing  to  everybody  else;  and  that  the  social  sciences 
make  very  little  progress.     The  harm  does  not  all  come 
from  the  amateurs   and  volunteers  who  meddle  in  these 
subjects.     It  comes  also  from  false  methods  and  want  of 
training  on  the  part  of  those  of  higher  pretensions.     If, 
however,  the  methods  which  have  hitherto  been  pursued 
are  correct,  if  any  one  is  able  without  previous  care  or  study 
to  strike  out  the  solution  of  a  difficult  social  problem,  for 
which  solution,  however,  he  can  give  no  guarantee  to  any- 
body else,  then  the  social  sciences  are  given  over  to  endless 
and  contemptible  wrangling,  and  are  unworthy  of  the  time 
and  attention  of  sober  men.    Such,  however,  is  not  the  case. 
The  Science  of  Life,  which  teaches  us  how  to  live  together 
in  human  society,  and  has  more  to  do  with  our  happiness 
here  than  any  other  science,  is  not  a  mere  structure  of 
a  'priori  whims.     It  is  not  a  mass  of  guesses  which  the 
guesser  tries  to  render  plausible.    It  is  not  a  tangle  of  dog- 

1  Address  before  the  Kent  Club  of  the  Yale  Law  School. 
337 


338    THE  FORGOTTEN   MAN  AND   OTHER  ESSAYS 

mas  which  are  incapable  of  verification.  It  is  not  a  bundle 
of  sentiments  and  enthusiasms  and  soft-hearted  wishes 
bound  together  either  by  religious  or  by  irreligious  prejudices. 
It  is  not  a  heap  of  statistical  matter  without  logic.  Whether 
you  regard  the  social  science  under  the  form  of  law,  poli- 
tics, political  economy,  or  social  science  in  its  narrower 
application,  these  negatives  all  apply.  It  is  only  under 
some  application  of  scientific  methods  and  scientific  tests 
that,  in  this  department  as  in  others,  any  results  worth 
our  notice  can  be  won. 

Now  the  materials,  the  facts,  and  the  phenomena  of 
social  science  are  presented  to  us  under  two  forms:  first, 
as  a  successive  series,  viz.,  in  history,  in  which  we  see  social 
forces  at  work  and  the  social  evolution  in  progress; 
secondly,  in  statistics,  in  which  the  contemporaneous  phe- 
nomena are  presented  in  groups.^  Under  this  view  social 
science  has  promise,  at  least,  of  issuing  from  its  present 
condition  and  taking  on  a  steady  progress,  while  it  also 
becomes  evident  what  history  ought  to  be  and  how  we 
ought  to  use  it. 

I  have  thought  it  necessary  to  preface  the  present  lec- 
ture with  this  bare  suggestion  of  the  standpoint  from  which 
I  take  up  my  subject.  For  the  study  of  politics,  some 
questions  in  political  economy,  and  some  social  problems, 
the  history  of  the  United  States  has  greater  value  than  that 
of  any  other  country.  All  the  greater  is  the  pity  that  its 
history  is  as  yet  unwritten,  or  all  the  greater  is  the  humilia- 
tion that  the  only  attempts  in  that  direction  which  are 
worth  mentioning  have  been  made  by  foreign  scholars, 
and  are  not  even  in  the  English  language.  In  American 
history  also,  for  the  study  of  politics  and  finance,  no  period 
equals  in  interest  the  administration  of  Andrew  Jackson. 
I  propose,  therefore,  in  the  limited  time  I  can  now  com- 

^  Statistics  means  here,  what  it  ought  to  mean,  much  more  than  tables  ot 
figures. 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  ANDREW  JACKSON       339 

mand,  to  point  out  to  you  the  reasons  why  this  period  of 
our  history  is  worthy  of  the  most  attentive  study.  I  may 
say  here  that  Professor  Von  Hoist  of  Freiburg  has  per- 
ceived the  importance  and  interest  of  this  period  and  pub- 
lished a  lecture  in  regard  to  it  which  I  regard  as  thoroughly 
sound  and  correct  in  its  standpoint  and  criticism.  His 
views  coincide  with  those  which  I  have  been  accustomed  to 
present  in  my  lectures  on  the  History  of  American  Politics, 
and  I  have  profited,  for  my  present  purpose,  by  some  sug- 
gestions of  his. 

Mr.  Monroe  was  the  last  of  the  public  men  of  the  first 
generation  of  the  republic  who  succeeded  to  the  presiden- 
tial chair  by  virtue  of  a  certain  standing  before  the  public. 
During  his  administration  the  old  parties  died  out  or  were 
merged  in  a  new  party,  a  compromise  between  the  two. 
There  followed  during  his  second  administration  what  was 
called  the  "era  of  good  feeling,"  during  which  there  were 
no  party  divisions  and  no  strong  party  feeling.  This  period 
was  very  instructive,  however,  for  any  one  who  is  disposed 
to  see  the  evils  of  party  in  an  exaggerated  light,  for  there 
sprang  up  no  less  than  five  aspirants  to  the  succession^ 
whose  interests  were  pushed  by  personal  arguments  solely. 
These  arguments  took  the  form  also,  not  of  enumerating 
the  services  of  the  candidate  favored,  but  of  spreading 
scandals  about  his  rivals.  The  newspapers  were  loaded 
down  with  weary  "correspondence"  about  "charges  and 
countercharges"  against  each  of  the  candidates. 

Mr.  Crawford  of  Georgia  obtained  the  nomination  of  the 
democratic  congressional  caucus  in  1824,  but  loud  com- 
plaints were  raised  against  this  method  of  nominating  can- 
didates. It  was  demanded  that  the  people  should  be  free 
from  the  dominion  of  King  Caucus,  and  should  nominate 
and  elect  freely.  No  machinery  for  accomplishing  this 
was  yet  at  hand,  and  none  was  proposed,  but  the  outcry 
which  was  partly  justified  by  the  evils  of  the  congressional 


340    THE  FORGOTTEN   MAN  AND   OTHER  ESSAYS 

caucus  system  and  partly  consisted  of  phrases  which  were 
sure  of  great  popular  effect,  greatly  injured  Mr.  Crawford. 
He  had  been  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  during  the  financial 
troubles  of  the  years  following  the  war,  and  had  managed 
that  thankless  office  on  the  whole  very  well,  but  he  had  not 
performed  the  impossible.  He  had  not  brought  the  finan- 
ces of  the  country  into  a  sound  condition  while  allowing 
the  banks  to  do  as  they  chose.  He  had  not  kept  up  the 
revenue  while  trade  was  prostrated,  and  he  had  not  crushed 
the  United  States  Bank  while  preserving  the  business 
interest  of  the  country.  He  had  many  enemies  amongst 
those  who,  on  the  one  side  and  on  the  other,  thought  that 
he  ought  to  have  done  each  of  these  things.  Hostility  to 
the  Bank  was  not  as  great  in  1824  as  in  1820,  but  there 
was  a  large  party  which  was  determined  in  this  hostility. 
Mr.  Crawford  was  also  said  to  be  broken  in  health,  and 
this  came  to  be  believed  so  firmly  that  it  has  generally 
passed  into  history  as  one  of  the  chief  causes  of  his  defeat. 
It  is  so  accepted  by  Von  Hoist.  Mr.  Crawford  was  disabled 
from  September,  1823,  to  September,  1824,  but  he  lived 
until  1834,  spending  the  last  years  of  his  life  as  a  circuit 
judge,  and  he  was  well  enough  in  1830  to  ruin  John  C.  Cal- 
houn's chances  of  succeeding  General  Jackson. 

The  next  candidate  was  Mr.  Adams,  Secretary  of  State 
under  Mr.  Monroe.  He  enjoyed  the  support  of  New  Eng- 
land. There  was  no  question  of  Mr.  Adams's  abilities,  or 
of  his  great  public  services,  or  of  his  character;  but  he  was 
not  popular.  I  do  not,  of  course,  think  this  at  all  deroga- 
tory to  him,  but  you  observe  that  it  is  hard  for  a  man  to 
despise  popularity  and  at  the  same  time  have  enough  of  it 
to  be  elected  to  office  in  a  democracy.  Mr.  Adams  really 
liked  popularity  and  wanted  it,  and  there  was  a  continual 
strife  within  him  between  the  aristocrat  who  sought  inde- 
pendent and  isolated  activity  to  please  himself  and  the 
politician  who  must  please  others.    It  is  the  explanation  of 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  ANDREW  JACKSON      341 

much  in  his  conduct  which  seemed  erratic  and  inconsistent 
to  his  contemporaries. 

Mr.  Clay  was  the  candidate  of  the  West,  and  Mr.  Cal- 
houn of  a  portion  of  the  South. 

These  men   were  all  m    prominent    positions,   three    of 
them  in  the  Cabinet,  and  one  speaker  of  the  House.     On 
the  20th  of  August,  1822,  the  House  of  Representatives  of 
Tennessee  presented  another  candidate  in  the  person  of 
General  Jackson.     This  gentleman  had  been  educated  for 
a  lawyer  and  had  been  on  the  bench  of  Tennessee.    He  was 
in  Congress  during  the  administration  of  Washington  and 
voted  against  a  clause  m  the  address  of  Congress  to  Wash- 
ington on  his  retirement,  in  which  a  hope  was  expressed 
that  Washington's  example  might  be  imitated  by  his  suc- 
cessors.^   As  a  member  of  Congress  he  had  been  noticeable 
only  for  violence  of  speech  and  action.     At  New  Orleans 
he  had  won  a  creditable  military  success  at  the   close   of 
a  war  which  had  brought  little  glory  on  land.    While  there 
he  came  into  collision  with  the  civil  court  on  refusing  to 
obey  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus.    Some  incidents  of  this  event 
are  especially  characteristic  of  the  man.     He  came  into 
court  March  31,  1815,  surrounded  by  the  populace,  and 
refused  to  answer  interrogatories.     Then,  pointing  to  the 
crowd,  he  said  to  the  judge,  alluding  to  the  previous  judi- 
cial   inquiry:    "I    was   then   with   these  brave  fellows   in 
arms;   you  were  not,  sir!"    He  interrupted  the  judge  while 
he  w^as  reading  his  decision,  saying:    "Sir,  state  facts  and 
confine  yourself  to  them,  since  my  defence  is  and  has  been 
precluded;  let  not  censure  constitute  a  part  of  this  sought- 
for  punishment."    The  judge  replied:   "It  is  with  delicacy, 
general,  that  I  speak  of  your  name  or  character.     I  con- 
sider you  the  savior  of  the  country,  but  for  your  contempt 
of  court  authority,  or  to  that  effect,  you  will  pay  a  fine  of 
$1000."     The  general  drew  his  check  for  the  sum  and  re- 

1  Niles,  XLVI,  407. 


342    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

tired.  The  crowd  dragged  his  carriage  to  the  French  cofiFee- 
house,  with  acclamations  and  waving  jflags.  He  there 
made  a  speech.^  The  fine,  amounting  with  interest  to  $2,700, 
was  refunded  by  Congress  in  1844. 

In  1818  he  had  violated  the  territory  of  Florida,  then 
a  province  of  Spain,  with  whom  we  were  at  peace.  He 
claimed,  in  1830,  that  he  had  done  this  with  the  conniv- 
ance of  Mr.  Monroe.  During  the  same  campaign  against 
the  Seminoles  he  captured  two  men  who  were  aiding  the 
enemy  and  were  said  to  be  British  subjects.  A  court- 
martial  condemned  one  of  them  to  death  and  the  other 
to  less  punishment.  He  ordered  both  executed,  thus  over- 
ruling the  verdict   on   the   side  of  severity. 

The  people  might  have  been  divided  into  two  great  classes 
according  to  the  opinion  of  Jackson  which  was  entertained 
in  1822.  The  more  sober  and  intelligent  considered  him  a 
violent,  self-willed,  ignorant,  and  untrained  man.  They 
thought  that  he  had  perhaps  the  soldier's  virtues  and  that 
he  had  done  the  country  good  service  as  a  soldier  but  they 
doubted  if  he  had  the  first  qualification  of  a  ruler,  viz.,  to 
know  how  to  obey.  They  thought  him  quarrelsome,  vain, 
untutored  in  the  forms  of  civilized  life  which  teach  men 
to  ignore  much,  to  endure  more,  and  to  reserve  the  stake 
of  personal  feeling  and  personal  struggle  for  the  last  and 
highest  emergencies.  They  perceived,  on  the  contrary, 
that  he  never  distinguished  great  things  from  small,  es- 
pecially where  his  own  pride  was  involved,  and  that  he 
had  no  reserve  at  all  about  throwing  his  personality  into 
unseemly  controversies,  which  he  never  shunned  but 
seemed  to  like.  I  have  already  said  that  these  personal 
criminations  and  recriminations  were  common  at  the  time; 
Mr.  Webster  is  the  only  prominent  public  man  of  the  time 
who  succeeded  in  avoiding  newspaper  controversies,  and  he 
did  not  altogether  escape  altercations  in  the  Senate.    Public 

1  Niles,  VIII,  246. 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  ANDREW  JACKSON      343 

men  were  continually  scenting  attacks  on  their  character  and 
setting  vigorously  to  work  to  vindicate  the  same,  not  perceiv- 
ing that  such  vindications  always  derogate  from  the  man 
who  makes  them.  This  much  ought  to  be  said  in  excuse 
for  General  Jackson  if  this  fault  was  especially  prominent 
in  him.  You  may  imagine  how  incredible  it  seemed  to 
persons  who  formed  this  estimate  of  Jackson  that  any  one 
could  soberly  propose  him  for  the  chair  which  had  hitherto 
been  filled  by  Washington,  Adams,  Jefferson,  Madison,  and 
Monroe.  The  Federalists  of  New  England  had  had  little 
affection  or  admiration  for  the  last  three  Presidents,  but 
they  had  never  been  ashamed  of  them  as  public  men. 

The  other  of  the  two  great  classes  to  which  I  have  re- 
ferred held  a  very  opposite  opinion  of  General  Jackson. 
To  them  he  w^as  a  military  hero  and  a  popular  idol.  They 
liked  him  better  for  taking  Pensacola  in  defiance  of  inter- 
national law.  They  liked  him  for  bearding  the  judge  who 
wanted  to  enforce  the  habeas  corpus.  They  thought  it 
spirited  in  him  to  hang  two  Englishmen  to  solve  a  doubt. 
I  do  not  mean  that  they  reasoned  much  about  it,  for  they 
did  not;  at  bottom  they  were  actuated  by  an  instinct  of 
fellowship.  They  recognized  a  man  with  the  same  range 
of  ideas  and  feelings,  the  same  contempt  for  history,  law. 
Old- World  forms,  and  traditions  by  which  they  themselves 
were  actuated.  His  bluntness,  his  rollicking,  untamed 
manner,  his  hit-or-miss  arguments,  his  respect  for  the  pop- 
ular whim  or  emotion  as  the  only  control  he  would  admit, 
his  plump  ignorance  which  exceeded  omniscience  in  its 
boldness,  all  flattered  the  populace  and  won  its  favor. 
Here  was  a  hero  from  amongst  themselves,  using  their 
methods,  despising  the  restrictions  of  the  cultivated  and  the 
learned,  a  virtuoso  in  negligence  and  carelessness  of  man- 
ner, aiming  at  rudeness  and  bluntness  as  things  worth 
cultivating,  and  elevating  want  of  culture  into  a  qualifica- 
tion for  greatness  and  a  title  to  honor. 


344    THE   FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

In  order  to  understand  the  full  importance  of  this  you 
must  look  at  some  facts  in  social  and  political  development 
which  had  immediately  preceded.  At  the  adoption  of  the 
Constitution  property  qualifications  limiting  the  suffrage 
were  general,  but  they  had  been  removed  steadily  and 
gradually  until  by  1820  the  suffrage  was  universal  through- 
out almost  all  the  states.  The  Jeffersonian  ideas  of  govern- 
ment and  policy  had  also  spread  steadily  and  rapidly  and 
had  received  more  and  more  extended  interpretation. 
They  were  fallacious  and  only  half  true  at  best,  that  is  to 
say,  they  were  of  the  most  mischievous  order  of  proposi- 
tions possible  in  politics;  but  in  popular  use  and  interpreta- 
tion they  had  become  worn  into  a  kind  of  political  cant, 
in  which  the  moiety  of  truth  had  disappeared  and  the 
residuum  of  falsehood  had  become  the  highest  political 
truth  and  the  badge  of  political  orthodoxy.  To  use  the 
ballot  was  held  synonymous  with  freedom;  the  rule  of  the 
numerical  majority  was  made  equivalent  to  the  republic; 
the  "will  of  the  people"  was  held  paramount  to  the  Con- 
stitution—which is  nothing  more  than  saying  that  to  do 
as  you  choose  is  superior  to  doing  as  you  have  agreed.  And 
it  had  become  a  political  dogma  that,  if  there  are  only 
enough  of  you  together,  when  you  do  as  you  have  a  mind 
to,  you  are  sure  to  do  right. 

I  use  the  past  sense  here,  but  you  will  at  once  perceive 
that  I  am  describing  what  is  still  strong  amongst  us. 

Of  course  there  was,  outside  of  these  two  classes,  a  large 
body  of  persons,  scattered,  as  to  their  political  opinions, 
all  the  way  between  the  two  extremes;  but  the  second 
class  was  large  and  was  growing  very  rapidly  from  social 
and  industrial  causes  which  are  yet  to  be  specified. 

During  the  European  wars  the  people  of  the  New  Eng- 
land states  made  great  gains  from  commerce.  In  the 
middle  states  manufactures  began  under  the  protection  of 
embargo  and  war.     In  the  South  there  was  less  wealth. 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  ANDREW  JACKSON       345 

but  the  possession  of  land  and  slaves  created  an  aristocracy 
of  large  political  influence  over  poorer  neighbors.  In  New 
York  something  of  the  same  kind  existed,  two  or  three 
of  the  great  families  struggling  with  one  another  for  the 
political  control  of  the  state.  These  were  all  democrats 
of  a  peculiar  type  well  worthy  of  study.  They  professed 
popular  principles  while  they  scorned  the  populace  and  led 
cohorts  of  uneducated  men  whom  they  handled  and  dis- 
posed of  as  they  chose.  After  the  war  the  commerce  and 
industry  of  the  country  suffered  a  heavy  reverse  from  which 
it  did  not  recover  until  1820  or  1821;  but  then  came  the 
influence  of  steam  navigation,  as  the  first  of  the  great  in- 
ventions, together  with  the  factory  system  and  some  great 
improvements  in  machinery,  and  the  position  of  the  arti- 
san, in  spite  of  the  protective  policy  to  which  the  result 
was  generally  attributed  as  a  cause,  underwent  a  steady 
and  very  great  improvement.  In  1825  the  Erie  Canal  was 
opened  and,  together  with  the  application  of  steam  to 
lake  and  river  navigation,  led  to  an  unparalleled  develop- 
ment west  of  the  Alleghanies.  In  the  southwestern  states 
the  immense  profits  of  cotton  culture  led  to  rapid  settle- 
ment and  development.  As  early  as  1816  the  tide  of  im- 
migration had  become  marked.  It  was  interrupted  during 
the  hard  times  but  went  on  again  increasing  steadily.  Thus 
you  see  that  the  material  prosperity  of  this  country  was 
just  taking  its  great  start  at  the  beginning  of  the  twenties. 
The  natural  consequence  was  that  there  was  a  great  body 
of  persons  here  who  had  been  used  to  straitened  circum- 
stances, but  who  now  found  themselves  prosperous,  every 
year  improving  their  condition.  Such  a  state  of  things  is 
of  course  eminently  desirable.  Economists  and  statesmen 
are  continually  trying  to  bring  it  about.  Observe,  however, 
some  of  the  inevitable  social,  political,  and  moral  effects. 
This  class  expanded  under  the  sun  of  prosperity  both  its 
virtues  and  its  vices.     It  became  self-reliant  and  independ- 


346    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

ent.  It  feared  no  mishap.  It  took  reckless  risks.  It 
laughed  at  prudence.  It  had  overcome  so  many  difficul- 
ties that  it  took  no  forethought  for  any  yet  to  come.  It 
loved  dash  and  bravado  and  high  spirit.  It  admired  energy 
and  enterprise  as  amongst  the  highest  human  virtues.  It 
scorned  especially  theory,  or  philosophy,  and  professed 
exaggerated  faith  in  the  practical  man.  It  never  esti- 
mated science  very  highly  until  science  began  to  lead  to 
patent  mixtures  for  various  purposes  and  to  mining  engi- 
neering. Then  it  took  to  business  colleges  and  technical 
schools  for  the  dissemination  of  the  same.  Especially  did 
this  class  despise  any  historical  or  scientific  doctrines  which 
came  from  the  other  side  of  the  water.  It  was  a  general 
premise  that  the  new  country  needed  new  systems  through- 
out the  whole  social  and  political  fabric,  and  that  what  was 
enforced  by  European  experience  was  surely  inapplicable 
here.  As  against  England  this  assumption  was  considered 
especially  strong.  In  the  writings  of  some  of  the  men  who 
greatly  influenced  public  opinion  from  1820  to  1830  this 
amounted  almost  to  fanaticism.  "Home  industry,"  and 
"Internal  Improvements,"  owed  much  of  their  success  over 
the  mind  of  the  nation  to  the  industrious  use  of  this  preju- 
dice.    These  subjects  were  not  political  issues  until  1830. 

Of  course  I  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  question  which 
to  many  would  seem  to  be  here  the  only  important  one, 
viz.,  whether  these  traits  are  not  noble  and  praiseworthy 
and  do  not  constitute  the  Americans  the  first  nation  in 
the  world.  Those  are  idle  questions.  Political  institutions 
are  not  framed  to  produce  noble  and  praiseworthy  men. 
If  any  are  planned  to  that  end  they  always  fail.  But  politi- 
cal institutions  follow  the  social  and  industrial  conditions, 
if  the  people  adapt  themselves  to  the  facts  of  the  case.  So 
it  has  been  here;  and,  although  I  have  used  the  past  tense 
in  this  description  of  the  effects  of  rapid  prosperity,  you 
observe  that  the  features  are  those  which  still  mark  our 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  ANDREW  JACKSON      347 

American  society  as  a  whole.  I  have  simply  to  take  cog- 
nizance of  these  effects  as  facts  inseparable  from  the  con- 
ditions of  that  society. 

Here,  then,  I  come  to  the  assertion  to  which  I  desire 
especially  to  call  your  attention  under  my  present  subject: 
that  is,  that  General  Jackson's  personal  popularity  and  his 
political  inJBuence  were  not  created  by  him  at  all,  but  were 
simply  the  results  of  the  fact  that  he  exactly  fitted  in  as 
a  leader  into  the  rising  class  of  persons  of  small  property, 
low  education,  and  crude  notions  of  politics  and  finance.  Of 
this  class  he  was  the  leader  as  long  as  he  lived.  You  will 
recognize  here  an  illustration  of  the  wider  historical  gener- 
alization, that  the  prominent  man  and  his  surroundings 
always  act  and  react  on  one  another  and  the  old  question 
as  to  which  "causes"  the  other  is  idle. 

Such  being  the  circumstances  in  1822,  when  Jackson's 
name  was  first  mentioned  in  connection  with  the  Presi- 
dency, the  class  of  persons  whom  I  first  described  as  con- 
sidering this  a  bad  joke  soon  discovered  their  mistake. 
In  the  following  year  the  people  of  Blount  County,  Tenne- 
see  held  a  meeting  at  which  they  passed  strong  resolutions 
in  his  support,^  and  it  was  soon  evident  to  the  aspirants  at 
"Washington  that  he  was  the  most  dangerous  competitor 
of  all.  Calhoun  hastened  to  retire  into  the  second  place, 
with  the  understanding  that  he  was  to  succeed  in  four 
years,  Jackson  having  pronounced  for  one  term  only. 
Pending  the  contest,  in  1823,  Jackson  was  elected  United 
States  Senator  from  Tennessee.  The  result  of  the  election 
of  1824  was  that  Jackson  got  99  votes  in  the  electoral  col- 
lege, Adams  84,  Crawford  41,  and  Clay  37.  Clay  was 
thus  excluded  from  the  contest  in  the  House.  His  friends 
voted  for  Adams,  who  got  13  states,  Jackson  7,  and  Craw- 
ford 4.  The  states  which  voted  for  Jackson  were  New 
Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  South  Carolina,  Tennessee,  Indiana, 

1  Niles,  XXIV,  247. 


348    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

Alabama,  and  Mississippi.  This  election  was  in  many- 
respects  important  for  the  history  of  politics  in  the  country, 
I  leave  aside  all  but  the  relation  to  Jackson  and  the  politi- 
cal movement  which  he  represented.  His  friends  were 
by  no  means  content,  and  they  were  not  quiet  in  their 
discontent.  They  accused  Clay  of  carrying  his  votes  over 
to  Adams  by  a  corrupt  bargain,  according  to  which  he 
was  to  be  Secretary  of  State  in  the  new  Cabinet.  There 
was  less  ground  for  this  accusation  than  for  almost  any 
other  personal  calumny  to  be  found  in  our  political  his- 
tory, but  it  clung  to  Mr.  Clay  as  long  as  he  lived. 

The  most  significant  feature,  however,  for  the  political 
movement  of  the  time  was  this:  General  Jackson's  sup- 
porters claimed  that,  as  he  had  a  plurality  of  the  votes 
of  the  Electoral  College,  it  was  shown  to  be  the  will  of  the 
people  that  he  should  be  President,  and  that  the  House  of 
Representatives  ought  simply  to  have  carried  out  the  popu- 
lar will,  thus  expressed,  to  fulfillment.  You  observe  the  full 
significance  of  the  doctrine  thus  afiSrmed.  The  Constitu- 
tion provides  that  the  House  shall  elect  a  President  when 
the  Electoral  College  fails  to  give  any  candidate  a  majority. 
It  confers  an  independent  choice  between  the  three  highest 
candidates  upon  the  House.  Already  the  independent 
choice  which  the  Constitution  intended  to  give  to  the  Elec- 
toral College  had  been  abrogated  by  Congressional  caucus 
nominations  and  pledged  elections.  It  w^as  now  claimed 
that  the  House  should  simply  elevate  the  plurality  of  the 
highest  candidate  in  the  College  to  a  majority  in  the  House. 
Thus  the  antagonism  between  the  permanent  specification 
of  the  Constitution  and  the  momentary  will  of  the  people 
was  sharply  defined.  It  was  the  antagonism  between  the 
general  law  and  the  momentary  impulse,  between  sober 
dispassionate  judgment  as  to  what  is  generally  wise  and  a 
special  inconvenience  or  disappointment.  I  strive  to  put 
it  into  everyday  language  because  it  is  a  phenomenon  of 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  ANDREW  JACKSON       349 

human  life  which  is  the  same  whether  it  is  seen  in  the  char- 
acter of  an  individual  striving  to  control  his  wayward  im- 
pulses by  general  principles,  or  in  the  political  history  of  a 
great  democratic  republic  seeking  to  obtain  dignity,  sta- 
bility, and  imperial  majesty  by  binding  the  swaying  wishes 
of  the  hour  under  broad  and  sacred  constitutional  provi- 
sions. It  was  the  opening  of  that  issue  which  is  vital  to  this 
republican  issue  which  cleaves  down  through  our  entire 
political  and  social  fabric,  the  issue  to  which  parties  must 
ever  return  and  about  which  they  will  always  form  so  long 
as  this  experiment  lasts  —  the  issue,  namely,  of  constitu- 
tionalism versus  democracy,  of  law  versus  self-will;  the 
question  whether  we  are  a  constitutional  republic  whose 
ultimate  bond  is  the  loyalty  of  the  individual  citizen  to  the 
Constitution  and  the  laws  or  a  democracy  in  which  at  any 
time  the  laws  and  the  Constitution  may  give  way  to  what 
shall  seem,  although  not  constitutionally  expressed,  to  be 
the  will  of  the  people.  General  Jackson  was  from  the 
time  of  this  election  the  exponent  of  the  latter  theory. 

I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  the  issue  was  clearly  defined 
at  the  time,  or  that  the  parties  ranged  themselves  upon 
it  with  logical  consistency.  Any  student  of  history  knows 
that  political  parties  never  do  that.  Still  less  do  I  mean  to 
say  that  parties  since  that  time  have  kept  strictly  to  the 
position  on  one  side  or  the  other  of  this  issue  which  their 
traditions  would  require.  Political  history  and  political 
tradition  have  little  continuity  with  us,  and  the  fact  has 
been  that  the  Jacksonian  doctrine  has  permeated  our  whole 
community  far  too  deeply.  We  have  had  some  who  merely 
grubbed  in  a  mole-eyed  way  in  the  letter  of  the  Constitu- 
tion, as  indeed  Jackson  and  his  fellows  did,  and  we  have 
had  others  who  were  and  are  restive  under  any  invocation 
of  the  Constitution.  True  constitutionalism,  however,  the 
grand  conception  of  law,  of  liberty  under  law,  of  the  free 
obedience  of  intelligent  citizens,  is  what  now  needs  explain- 


350    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

ing  and  enforcing  as  the  key  to  any  true  solution  of  the 
great  problems  which,  as  we  are  told  on  every  side,  beset 
the  republic. 

I  cannot  now  follow  the  history  in  detail  to  show  the 
movements  of  parties  during  the  next  four  years.  Mr. 
Adams's  administration  was  unfortunate  in  its  attempts  to 
settle  the  old  misunderstanding  with  England  about  the 
West  India  trade.  It  got  that  question  into  one  of  those 
awkward  corners,  out  of  which  neither  party  can  first  seek 
exit,  which  the  diplomatist  ought  to  avoid  as  the  worst 
form  of  diplomatic  failure.  In  its  home  policy  it  favored 
internal  improvements  and  protection  to  the  most  exag- 
gerated degree.  But  the  administration  was  dignified, 
simple,  and  businesslike.  It  was  a  model  in  these  respects 
of  what  an  administration  under  our  system  ought  to  be. 
It  presented  no  heroics  whatever,  neither  achievements 
nor  scandals,  and  approached,  therefore,  that  millenial 
form  of  society  in  which  time  passes  in  peace  and  prosper- 
ity without  anything  to  show  that  there  is  either  govern- 
ment or  history. 

Nevertheless  this  administration  did  not  receive  justice 
from  its  contemporaries.  Mr.  Adams  seemed  always  to 
feel  a  certain  timidity,  which  he  expressed  in  his  letter  to 
the  House  of  Representatives  on  his  election,  because  he 
had  gone  into  office  without  a  popular  majority.  In  Con- 
gress he  had  to  deal  with  an  opposition  which  was  factious, 
disappointed,  and  malignant,  determined  to  make  the  worst 
of  everything  he  did  and  to  make  capital  at  every  step  for 
General  Jackson.  It  was  a  campaign  four  years  long,  and 
it  was  conducted  by  a  new  class  of  politicians  who  made 
light  of  principle  and  gloried  in  finesse.  The  end  of  the  old 
system  of  family  leadership  in  New  York  and  the  certainty 
that  there  would  never  be  another  congressional  caucus, 
led  to  new  forms  of  machinery  for  manipulating  the  popu- 
lar power.    These  were  set  up  under  loud  denunciations  of 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  ANDREW  JACKSON      351 

dynasties,  aristocracies,  families,  dictation,  and  so  on.  The 
most  remarkable  and  most  powerful  of  these  new  organs 
was  the  Albany  Regency,  which  shaped  our  political  his- 
tory for  the  next  ten  or  fifteen  years.  The  intrigues  of 
the  period  culminated  in  the  tariff  act  of  1828,  in  which 
Pennsylvania  and  the  South  were  brought  into  a  strange 
coalition  to  support  Jackson  and  a  high  tariff,  leaving 
New  England  out  of  the  golden  shower  of  tariff-created 
wealth,  as  she  held  aloof  from  the  support  of  the  popular 
idol.  I  regret  that  I  cannot  now  stop  to  analyze  and  ex- 
pose this  prime  specimen  of  legislation  in  which  tariff  and 
politics  were  scientifically  intermingled. 

As  for  political  principles,  there  were  none  at  stake  and 
none  argued  in  the  contest.  The  struggle  was  ruthlessly 
personal.  A  month  before  the  election  an  editorial  in 
Niles's  Register  used  the  following  language:  "We  had 
much  to  do  with  the  two  great  struggles  of  parties  from 
1797  to  1804  and  1808  to  1815,  and  we  are  glad  that  we  are 
not  so  engaged  in  this,  more  severe  and  ruthless  than  either 
of  the  others,  and,  we  must  say,  derogatory  to  our  country, 
and  detrimental  to  its  free  institutions  and  the  rights  of 
suffrage,  with  a  more  general  grossness  of  assault  upon 
distinguished  individuals  than  we  ever  before  witnessed." 

Jackson  was  elected  by  178  votes  to  83  for  Adams.  The 
criticisms  which  had  been  made  upon  Adams's  administra- 
tion were  now  all  used  as  a  basis  for  representing  the  entire 
government  as  needing  reform.  This  reform  took  the  form 
of  removing  all  persons  in  office  and  replacing  them  by 
friends  of  the  new  President.  Up  to  this  time  the  tenure 
of  office  in  the  public  service  had  been  during  efficiency  or 
good  behavior,  although  instances  of  removals  for  political 
reasons  had  not  been  wanting  and  there  had  been  many 
changes  when  Jefferson  went  into  office.  I  will  only  say 
in  passing  that  the  complaints  of  inefficiency  in  office  and 
of  corruption  during  Jackson's  administration  steadily  and 


352    THE  FORGOTTEN   IVIAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

justly  increased.  According  to  a  report  by  Secretary 
Ewing,  in  1841,  there  were  lost,  to  the  government  between 
1829  and  1841,  over  two  millions  and  a  haK  of  dollars  by 
defalcations  of  public  oflficials.  The  Cabinet  selected  by 
Jackson  at  the  outset  consisted  of  obscure  men  remarkable 
only  for  their  loyalty  to  the  person  of  the  President.  It  may 
be  said  in  general  of  the  new  appointments  to  inferior  offices 
that  they  constituted  a  deterioration  of  the  public  service. 
Two  doctrines  were  now  affirmed  as  democratic  principles 
which,  if  they  should  be  accepted  as  such,  would  be  the  con- 
demnation of  democracy  to  all  sober-minded  men.  The  first 
was  that  of  rotation  in  office,  which,  if  it  is  a  democratic 
principle,  raises  inefficiency  and  venality  to  permanent  fea- 
tures of  the  public  service.  You  will  observe  that  its  effect 
has  been,  as  a  matter  of  history,  to  make  thousands  of 
people  believe  despairingly  that  these  things  are  insepar- 
able from  the  public  service  and  that  elections  only  deter- 
mine which  set  shall  enjoy  the  opportunity.  The  other 
doctrine  or  democratic  principle  was  that  to  the  victors 
belong  the  spoils.  This  was  distinctly  enunciated  by 
William  L.  Marcy  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate.  He  said 
that  he  did  not  hesitate  to  avow  the  principle  as  a  prin- 
ciple. By  this  principle  corruption  in  the  public  service 
is  made  a  matter  of  course.  I  think  that  these  two  "prin- 
ciples" are  rotten,  and  by  virtue  of  their  own  intrinsic 
baseness.  If  any  one  is  inclined  to  despair  of  the  republic 
now,  he  ought  to  remember  that  there  was  a  time  when 
men  shamelessly  professed  these  doctrines  as  principles. 
I  doubt  if  any  one  would  be  bold  enough  to  do  it  to-day. 
Whether  General  Jackson  went  into  office  intending  to 
make  war  on  the  United  States  Bank,  is  a  question  which 
has  never  yet  found  a  solution,  but  the  drift  of  the 
evidence  is  for  the  negative.  During  the  summer  of  1829 
some  of  the  New  Hampshire  politicians  of  the  new  school 
endeavored  to  obtain  the  removal  of  Mr.  Jeremiah  Mason 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  ANDREW  JACKSON       353 

from  the  Presidency  of  the  Portsmouth  Branch  of  the 
United  States  Bank.  They  brought  no  charge  whatever 
against  him  save  that  he  was  a  friend  of  Mr.  Webster,  and 
they  urged  that  some  friend  of  the  administration  might 
make  the  Branch  useful  in  its  service.  The  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury  (Ingham)  endeavored  to  induce  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  Bank  (Biddle)  to  remove  Mr.  Mason.  Biddle 
refused  to  do  this.  In  this  controversy  the  administration 
men  were  in  the  position  of  striving  to  bring  the  Bank  into 
poHtics  on  their  side  and  the  Bank  was  in  the  position  of 
striving  to  remain  neutral  in  politics.  From  this,  however, 
dates  the  great  conflict  of  Jackson's  administration.  You 
will  greatly  err  in  trying  to  form  any  judgment  in  this  mat- 
ter if  you  doubt  the  bona  fides  of  General  Jackson.  Where 
his  personal  value  was  not  at  stake  he  was  genial,  good- 
natured,  and  generous.  In  questions  of  policy  he  was 
easily  led  up  to  the  point  at  which  he  formed  an  opinion. 
His  opinion  might  be  crystallized,  however,  suddenly,  by 
the  most  whimsical  consideratives,  or  under  the  most 
erratic  motives.  WTien  he  had  formed  what  for  him  was 
an  opinion,  he  clung  to  it  with  astonishing  obstinacy.  It 
rose  before  his  mind  as  a  fact  of  the  most  undeniable  cer- 
tainty. The  echo  of  it,  which  came  back  to  him  by  virtue 
of  his  popularity,  seemed  to  him  to  sanction  it  with  the 
highest  authority.  One  who  denied  it  was  shameless  and 
unpardonable,  one  who  resisted  it  deserved  any  punish- 
ment which  the  fashions  of  the  age  allowed.  You  recognize 
the  description  of  a  strong  and  originally  powerful  mind 
destitute  of  training. 

At  the  outset  the  Bank  was  guilty  only  of  neutrality 
where  he  demanded  support.  At  this  time  it  had  lived 
down  much  of  the  hatred  it  had  justly  incurred  at  the 
outset,  but  there  was  no  diflBculty  in  reviving  it.  The  Bank 
was  never  in  a  stronger  or  sounder  condition  than  in  1829, 
and  it  enjoyed  high  credit  both  at  home  and  abroad.     The 


354    THE  FORGOTTEN   MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

word  went  out,  however,  that  the  Bank  was  a  monopoly, 
the  possession  of  the  moneyed  aristocracy,  undemocratic, 
and  hostile  to  liberty.  The  first  blow  fell,  in  spite  of  some 
vague  premonitory  rumors,  with  great  suddenness.  In  the 
annual  message  of  December,  1829,  Jackson  incorporated 
a  short  paragraph  questioning  the  constitutionality  of  the 
Bank  and  proposing  a  Bank  on  the  credit  and  revenues  of 
the  government.  The  alarm  thus  created  was  twofold, 
first  on  account  of  the  Bank  which  was  threatened,  and 
second  on  account  of  the  new  institution  which  sounded 
like  a  government  paper  money  bank.  Parties  did  not  as 
yet  divide  on  this  issue.  The  strongest  partisans  of  Jack- 
son took  up  the  cry  against  the  Bank,  but  not  yet  with 
vigor;  the  more  intelligent  supporters  of  the  administra- 
tion still  favored  it.  In  1830  the  message  was  much  milder 
in  regard  to  the  Bank,  and  the  Treasury  Report  was 
even  favorable  to  it.  In  1831,  however,  the  message  was 
once  more  strongly  hostile. 

In  the  meantime  the  President  had  vetoed  an  internal 
improvement  bill  and  taken  up  a  position  of  hostility  to 
the  policy  of  improvements.  The  tarijff  of  1828  had  pro- 
voked the  South  to  more  and  more  energetic  protests  until 
South  Carolina  adopted  the  doctrine  and  policy  of  nullifi- 
cation. There  never  was  a  greater  political  error,  for  she 
alienated  the  vast  body  of  the  nation,  even  in  the  South, 
which  might  have  been  brought  to  oppose  protection  but 
would  not  favor  nullification  as  a  means  of  destroying  it. 
It  was  in  this  connection  that  Jackson's  traits  availed  to 
procure  him,  in  his  own  day,  the  approval  of  men  like  Web- 
ster and  has  availed  to  give  him  a  place  amongst  our  politi- 
cal heroes  and  in  the  hearts  of  people  who  to-day  know 
Uttle  more  about  him  than  that  he  prevented  nullification. 
He  certainly  acted  with  very  commendable  firmness  in 
giving  it  to  be  understood  that  nullification  meant  rebellion 
and  war.    His  attitude  and,  far  more,  the  legislation  of  the 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  ANDREW  JACKSON       355 

session  of  1832-1833  including  the  compromise  tariff  of 
March  2,  1833,  averted  civil  war.  What  part  in  all  this 
drama  was  played  by  his  hostility  to  Mr.  Calhoun  it  is 
difficult  to  say.  They  were  now  sworn  enemies,  General 
Jackson  having  been  informed  (by  Mr.  Crawford)  that  Mr. 
Calhoun,  instead  of  being  his  friend  in  the  cabinet  of  Mr. 
Monroe,  had  been  one  of  those  who  disapproved  of  his 
acts  in  the  Seminole  war  in  1878.  General  Jackson  upon 
this  diverted  the  succession  from  Mr.  Calhoun  and,  after 
taking  a  second  term  himself,  gave  the  succession  to 
Martin  Van  Buren,  a  weak  and  unpopular  candidate,  who 
had,  by  virtue  of  his  position  in  the  Albany  Regency, 
given  New  York  to  Jackson.  Mr.  Van  Buren  was  Secre- 
tary of  State  in  Jackson's  first  cabinet,  which  suddenly  ex- 
ploded in  1831  on  a  question  of  social  etiquette.  He  was 
next  nominated  to  the  English  mission  and  went  out,  but 
failed  of  confirmation,  an  incident  only  worth  mentioning 
because  the  hotter  partisans  of  Jackson  proposed  to  abol- 
ish the  Senate  for  rejecting  one  of  his  nominations. 

All  these  and  other  personalities  which  it  is  impossible 
to  group  in  any  way,  and  which  I  cannot  follow  into  de- 
tail, played  their  part  in  the  great  drama  which  was  open- 
ing. The  popular  democratic  party  was  gaining  ground 
every  day.  A  consciousness  of  power,  a  desire  to  assume 
public  duties  from  which  they  had  hitherto  held  aloof,  was 
taking  stronger  possession  of  them.  On  the  other  hand,  an 
opposition  was  forming  under  the  name  of  the  National  Re- 
publican party  which  had  a  certain  vague  legitimacy  of 
descent  from  the  old  Federal  party.  It  adopted  as  its  prin- 
ciples protection,  internal  improvements,  distribution  of  the 
public  lands,  and  the  National  Bank.  This  party  first  began 
to  be  called  Whigs  in  Connecticut,  in  1834.^  It  always 
seemed  strangely  lacking  in  political  sagacity.  It  offered  to 
its  enemies  the  very  strongest  arguments  against  itself.     It 

1  Niles.  XLVI,  101. 


356    THE  FORGOTTEN   JVIAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

had  managed  to  get  on  the  side,  which  will  pass  into  history 
as  the  wrong  side,  of  at  least  three  great  questions  and 
perhaps  also  of  the  fourth.  It  forced  the  administration 
into  an  impregnable  position  in  regard  to  free  trade,  hard 
money,  and  an  opposition  to  the  distribution  of  land  or 
revenue;  and  it  managed  in  the  end  to  put  itself  unequivo- 
cally in  the  wrong  and  the  opposite  party  in  the  right  on 
the  sub-treasury  and  the  public  finances. 

It  commenced  its  career  as  a  party  by  a  great  blunder 
—  an  act  which  was  recognized  as  such  immediately  after- 
wards —  and  that  was  the  effort  to  re-charter  the  Bank  in 
1832.  It  had  been  the  strongest  answer  of  the  Bank  to 
Jackson's  early  attacks  that  its  charter  did  not  expire  until 
March  3,  1836,  that  he  had  forced  the  issue  of  a  re-charter 
on  the  country  six  and  a  half  years  before  the  time,  and 
that  he  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  re-charter  unless  he 
assumed  that  he  was  to  be  reelected.  The  National  Re- 
publican convention  was  held  at  Baltimore  on  December  12, 
1831.  Mr.  Clay  was  nominated  for  President.  The  peti- 
tion for  a  re-charter  was  presented  January  9,  1832,  as  a 
manoeuvre  in  the  campaign.  Forthwith  the  charge  of  anti- 
cipating an  exciting  question  was  turned  against  the  oppo- 
sition. They  were  charged  with  bringing  the  Bank  into 
politics,  and  the  Bank  was  forced  into  the  political  cam- 
paign to  defend  its  existence.  The  re-charter  was  passed 
July  4,  1832,  and  vetoed  July  10.  Up  to  this  time  there 
had  been  plenty  of  administration  men  who  favored  the 
Bank.  This  issue,  thus  forced  by  the  opposition  on  the 
eve  of  election,  and  thus  accepted  by  the  President  for 
his  own  person,  raised  Bank  on  Anti-Bank  to  a  test  of 
political  orthodoxy,  and,  in  the  political  language  of  the 
time,  many  were  forced  to  ''turn  a  sharp  corner."  The 
issue  was  now  also  Jackson  versus  the  Bank,  and  then  first 
did  it  become  apparent  to  what  extent  the  Jackson  party 
had  gained  and  how  thorough  was  its  devotion.     The  cur- 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  ANDREW  JACKSON      357 

rent  party  names  were  Jackson  and  Anti- Jackson,  and  can- 
didates were  so  designated  down  to  the  lowest  town  officers. 
The  Whigs  protested  in  vain  against  the  folly  of  this.  They 
argued  with  men  who  would  not  argue,  and  assumed  the 
force  of  motives  the  powerlessness  of  which  was  proved 
by  the  fact  that  men  could  profess  such  personal  political 
allegiance.  They  did  not  truly  appreciate  the  democracy 
in  which  they  lived.  They  suffered  themselves  to  be  iso- 
lated as  a  body  and  they  lost  the  proper  conservative  power 
of  an  opposition  by  failing  to  go  with  the  sentiment  of  the 
vast  energetic,  growing  (if  you  choose  to  call  it  so),  vulgar 
democracy.  It  is  a  danger  which  always  besets  the  con- 
servative party  here,  whose  members  will  always  be  a  min- 
ority, and  will  always  find  much  to  offend  their  refinement  in 
a  new  community  like  this.  They  will  always  be  tempted 
to  withdraw  from  contact  with  it  and  to  gratify  their 
vanity  at  the  expense  of  all  public  influence.  ,, 

The  consequence  of  the  issue  as  it  was  made  in  1832  was 
that  Jackson  got  219  and  Clay  49  votes  in  the  Electoral 
College.*  Things  now  entered  on  a  new  stage.  The  lower 
class  which  I  have  hitherto  endeavored  to  characterize 
fairly,  but  without  timidity,  now  took  on  the  character  of 
a  genuine  proletariat.  It  has  been  only  at  few  periods  that 
any  development  of  the  lowest  sections  of  our  population 
has  produced  what  could  properly  be  called  by  that  name. 
The  period  of  Jackson's  second  administration  was  the 
most  marked  of  these.  In  the  large  cities  trades-unions 
arose,  and  in  certain  sections  agrarian  doctrines  were  ad- 
vocated, while  there  was  a  general  dissemination  of  social- 
istic notions.  In  1836  there  were  formal  riots  and  public 
disturbances  of  lesser  grade.  Partly  this  was  due  to  the 
arrogance  of  class  success,  partly  to  the  flattery  of  dema- 
gogues, and  partly  to  industrial  changes  and  to  currency 
disturbances  which  are  to  be  mentioned  in  a  moment. 

'  For  Clay,  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut,  Delaware,  Maryland. 


358    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

The  National  Bank  being  doomed  if  Jackson  should  be 
reelected,  a  large  moneyed  class  had  been  drawn  into  the 
administration  party,  viz.,  those  who  wanted  to  found 
local  banks.  The  administration  party,  therefore,  included 
these  two  branches,  to  the  former  or  lower  of  which  the 
nickname  Locofoco  was  given. 

General  Jackson  regarded  his  reelection  as  a  sanction  of 
all  that  he  had  done  or  proposed.  According  to  his  prin- 
ciples the  question  of  wisdom  in  banking  and  currency  did 
not  come  from  history  or  science,  but  from  a  majority  \ote 
of  the  people.  What  is  to  be  noticed,  however,  is  that  the 
people  simply  assented  to  whatever  he  proposed  and  rati- 
fied whatever  he  did,  because  it  was  he  that  did  it.  There 
resulted  a  state  of  things  paralleled  in  our  history  only  in 
the  case  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  that  is,  an  action  and  reaction 
between  the  executive  and  a  popular  majority  in  which 
each  stimulated  the  other  by  ready  sympathy  and  mutual 
support.  The  President  pursued  his  way  without  a  mis- 
giving, and  the  opposition  in  Congress  while  they  saw  their 
members  dwindling  and  the  majority  becoming  more  and 
more  overwhelming,  could  only  express  their  astonishment 
at  the  sudden  acts  and  irregular  methods  of  procedure  of 
the  executive.  The  subservient  majority,  consisting  largely 
of  professional  politicians  of  the  new  type,  recognized  that 
for  the  time  being  their  occupation  of  plotting  and  con- 
troling  was  gone.  Their  hopes  lay  in  no  independent  ac- 
tion, but  in  loyalty  to  the  chief. 

I  feel  here  how  much  I  am  saying  which  under  other 
circumstances  would  require  proof,  but  the  proof  lies  before 
any  one  who  will  throw  aside  Benton  and  Parton  and  look 
into  the  Congressional  debates  and  the  newspapers  of  the 
time. 

The  President  now  pushed  on  his  hostility  to  the  Bank, 
being  doubly  enraged  by  the  efforts  it  had  made  to  fight  its 
own  battle  in  contending  against  him  during  the  campaign. 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  ANDREW  JACKSON      359 

He  avowed  his  determination  to  make  the  "experiment" 
of  using  local  banks  as  fiscal  agents  of  the  government. 
Naturally  enough,  the  banking  and  commercial  world  was 
frightened  at  experiments,  carried  on  without  skill  or  knowl- 
edge and  running  athwart  the  financial  and  business  in- 
terests of  the  country.  Up  to  this  time,  you  must  remember, 
the  administration  had  not  pronounced  for  specie  currency 
at  all,  but  it  was  supposed  that  the  President  favored 
a  government  paper  bank.  In  his  Bank  veto  message  he 
had  said  that  a  charter  for  a  Bank  which  would  have  been 
free  from  objection  might  have  been  obtained  by  coming 
to  him  beforehand.  In  his  first  message  after  his  reelection 
he  raised  the  question  whether  the  public  deposits  were 
safe  in  the  Bank  and  whether  the  government  shares  in  the 
Bank  ought  not  to  be  sold.  In  spite  of  all  that  had  gone 
before  these  were  startling  questions.  A  majority  of  the 
Committee  of  Ways  and  Means  found  the  deposits  safe. 
The  minority  made  some  strong  and  undeniable  points 
against  the  Bank. 

During  the  summer  of  1833  Amos  Kendall  was  appointed 
agent  to  see  what  banks  could  be  engaged  to  take  the  public 
deposits.  On  August  19  of  that  year  the  five  government 
directors  of  the  Bank  made  a  report  showing  the  amount 
expended  by  the  Bank  in  printing  during  the  campaign, 
and  on  September  18,  1833,  the  President  read  to  his 
cabinet  a  paper  setting  forth  the  reasons  why  the  public 
deposits  should  be  removed  from  the  United  States  Bank. 
The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  Mr.  Duane,  refused  to  give 
the  order  for  removal  and  was  dismissed.  Mr.  Taney  was 
made  Secretary  and  he  ordered  that  no  further  sums  should 
be  deposited  in  the  Bank  by  collectors  or  others.  Decem- 
ber 3,  1833,  he  reported  to  Congress  his  reasons  for  doing 
this.  On  December  9,  the  government  directors  sent  in  a 
memorial  to  Congress  saying  that  they  had  been  shut  out 
from  a  knowledge  of  the  affairs  of  the  Bank.     On  March  28, 


360    THE  FORGOTTEN   MAN  AND   OTHER  ESSAYS 

1834,  the  Senate,  after  having  tried  in  vain  to  pass  a  more 
specific  censure,  resolved  that  the  President  had  "assumed 
upon  himself  authority  and  power  not  conferred  by  the 
Constitution  and  the  laws."  On  April  15,  the  President 
sent  in  a  protest  against  this  resolution,  saying  that  if  he 
had  been  guilty  of  violating  the  Constitution  he  ought  to  be 
impeached,  not  censured  by  resolution.  This  protest  the 
Senate  refused  to  register.  They  could  not  impeach  him, 
and  the  House  was  far  from  thinking  of  such  a  thing.  In 
fact,  the  question  of  status  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
is  a  delicate  one.  Some  independent  responsibility  is  laid 
upon  him,  according  to  the  laws  of  1789  and  1800,  but,  as 
he  is  liable  to  be  dismissed  by  the  President,  he  cannot  have 
an  independent  responsibility.  The  resolution  of  censure 
was  "expunged"  on  January  16,  1837.  In  the  House  of 
Representatives,  on  April  4,  1834,  it  was  resolved  that  the 
Bank  ought  not  to  be  re-chartered,  that  the  deposits  ought 
not  to  be  restored,  that  the  state  banks  ought  to  be  made 
depositories  of  the  public  funds,  and  that  a  select  committee 
on  the  Bank  should  be  raised.  The  majority  of  this  com- 
mittee reported,  on  May  22,  that  the  Bank  had  refused  to 
submit  to  investigation,  while  the  minority  (Everett  and 
Ellsworth)  reported  that  the  majority  had  made  unreason- 
able demands.  On  February  4, 1834  the  Senate  had  referred 
to  the  Finance  Committee  an  inquiry  in  regard  to  the  Bank; 
and  at  the  next  session,  on  December  18,  1834,  the  Com- 
mittee reported,  by  John  Tyler,  favorably  to  the  Bank  in 
every  respect.  In  the  message  of  December,  1834,  the 
President  reviewed  the  whole  war  against  the  Bank  and 
summed  up  the  charges  against  it.  Therewith  the  political 
and  congressional  war  over  the  old  Bank  came  to  an  end 
with  a  full  victory  for  the  administration. 

The  earliest  announcement  of  the  policy  of  the  adminis- 
tration in  favor  of  a  metallic  currency  was  in  a  reply  made 
by  the  President  ^  in  February,  1834,  to  a  deputation  from 

1  Nilea,  March  1,  1834. 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  ANDREW  JACKSON      361 

Philadelphia  who  came  to  complain  of  the  hard  times. 
According  to  the  report  they  gave,  the  President  was  very 
rude  and  violent.  He  ascribed  all  the  trouble  to  the  "mon- 
ster," as  he  called  the  Bank  over  and  over  again.  He  de- 
clared that  he  would  introduce  a  specie  currency  and  that 
the  government  should  use  no  other.  He  evidently  knew 
Httle  of  the  laws  of  money  and  finance,  and,  although  much 
which  he  and  his  supporters  afterwards  urged  in  support 
of  this  policy  was  as  true  and  sound  as  any  propositions  in 
physical  science,  yet  it  was  mixed  up  with  fallacies  which 
neutralized  it,  and  it  degenerated  into  a  kind  of  fanaticism 
about  the  precious  metals.  The  measure  of  distributing 
the  deposits  amongst  local  banks,  and  thereby  stimulating 
bank  credits,  was  destructive  to  the  other  measure  of  in- 
troducing a  specie  currency.  The  distribution  of  the  sur- 
plus revenue,  which  had  accumulated  in  the  banks  amongst 
the  states,  was  an  opposition  measure  that  was  passed  on 
account  of  the  foolish  belief,  which  so  often  leads  our  poli- 
ticians astray,  that  there  was  political  capital  in  it.  Jack- 
son signed  the  bill,  but  he  criticized  it  in  his  next  message, 
giving  plain  and  statesmanlike  reasons  against  it. 

I  must  mention  one  other  institution  which  took  its 
rise  in  this  period,  and  that  is  the  national  convention. 
I  have  already  mentioned  the  Convention  of  the  National 
Republicans  at  Baltimore  in  1831.  The  Jackson  men  held 
one  at  Baltimore  on  May  21,  1832.  With  this  invention  our 
political  institutions  entered  on  a  new  phase,  and  "poli- 
tician" acquired  a  new  meaning.  The  power  of  party, 
the  binding  force  of  caucus  agreements,  the  conception  of 
bolting  a  regular  nomination  as  the  highest  political  crime, 
were  developed  first  in  the  ranks  of  the  Jackson  party, 
but  speedily  followed  to  the  best  of  their  ability  by  the 
opposition.  The  Tammany  Club  of  New  York  was  the 
school  in  which  these  political  arts  were  cultivated  to 
the  highest   pitch,  to  be   imitated  elsewhere.     There  had 


362    THE   FORGOTTEN   MAN  AND   OTHER  ESSAYS 

been  loud  shouts  over  the  downfall  of  "King  Caucus"  when, 
in  1824,  the  candidate  of  the  congressional  caucus  was 
defeated,  but  the  fact  was  that  King  Caucus  had  only  just 
come  of  age  and  was  entering  into  his  inheritance.  Behind 
the  convention  speedily  arose  the  class  of  politicians  vul- 
garly known  as  wire-pullers  who  spent  their  time  between 
elections  in  intriguing  and  plotting  and  distributing.  The 
Albany  Regency  found  that  its  power  slipped  away  into  the 
hands  of  these  more  secret  operators.  There  sprang  up 
men  who  did  not  care  for  office,  who  lived  no  one  knew  how, 
or  who  took  offices  which  to  them  were  sinecures  while 
they  wielded  the  real  political  power.  The  convention 
proved  to  be  an  engine  well  adapted  to  the  purposes  of 
this  class.  It  had  all  the  forms  of  freedom,  publicity, 
and  popular  initiative,  while  the  real  manipulation  was 
astonishingly  easy  for  two  or  three  shrewd  and  experienced 
men.  I  am  using  the  past  tense  here  again  for  decency's 
sake.  I  wish  that  I  could  do  so  because  the  things  I 
describe  were  really  matters  of  history. 

You  see  now  that  I  have  spared  nothing  whatever  here, 
neither  national  pride,  nor  party  prejudice,  nor  hereditary 
family  feeling.  My  business  is  simply  with  the  truth  of 
history  so  far  as  it  is  attainable,  and  so  far  as  I  am  able 
faithfully  to  state  it.  It  would  be  very  easy  now  to  say 
that  Andrew  Jackson  demoralized  American  politics,  and  to 
throw  upon  his  memory  the  blame  for  all  the  political 
troubles,  shames,  and  problems  of  which  we  are  every  day 
reminded.  Such,  however,  would  be  very  far  from  the 
inference  I  want  to  draw.  I  have  tried  to  emphasize  the 
fact  that  Jackson  himself  was  only  a  typical  and  repre- 
sentative man  in  and  of  his  time,  that  it  is  often  difficult 
to  say  whether  he  led  or  was  carried  forward.  His  ad- 
ministration, in  the  view  I  have  tried  to  present,  was  only 
the  time  at  which  a  certain  tendency  came  to  victory. 
It  was  only  a  case  of  the  conflict  which  constitutes  great 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  ANDREW  JACKSON       363 

political  parties  under  all  governments,  the  conflict  between 
the  radical  and  conservative  tendencies.  The  radical 
tendency  had  won  one  victory  under  Jefferson,  and,  coming 
into  office,  had  become  conservative.  In  Jackson's  ele- 
vation a  new  radical  tendency,  more  excessive  than  the 
first,  came  to  victory.  I  have  shown  also  in  my  criticism 
on  the  Whig  party  how  it  fell  out  of  sympathy  with  the 
great  movement  which  was  going  on  and  which  was  inevi- 
tably conditioned  in  the  social  and  economic  circumstances 
of  the  country. 

This  tendency  has  still  pursued  its  way  down  to  our  owti 
times.  The  party  which  organized  under  Jackson  be- 
came involved  in  the  slavery  question  by  combinations 
which  it  would  be  most  interesting  to  study;  but  this 
will  be  only  a  passing  phase,  a  temporary  issue  in  our 
political  life,  and  only  a  feature  of  the  history  of  the  con- 
crete Democratic  party,  not  of  the  great  democratic  ten- 
dency. The  doctrines  of  the  Jacksonian  democracy  have 
permeated  nearly  the  whole  country.  They  have  come 
to  be  popularly  regarded  as  postulates  or  axioms  of  civil 
liberty.  Those  who  deny  them  are  the  scholars,  the  his- 
torians, the  philosophers,  the  book-men  of  every  grade; 
and  they  deny  them  under  their  breath,  at  the  penalty  of 
sacrificing  all  share  in  public  life.  It  is  certain,  however, 
that  the  issue  must  come  back  to  its  permanent  form 
and  that  the  political  strife  must  be  waged  between  the 
conservative  and  the  radical  theories  of  politics  —  between 
those  who  lay  the  greater  stress  on  law  and  those  who 
lay  the  greater  stress  on  liberty,  between  those  who  see 
political  health  chiefly  in  the  social  principle  and  those  who 
see  it  chiefly  in  the  individual,  between  constitutionalism 
and  democracy. 

This  will  not  come  about  by  any  critical  reflections  of 
mine  or  by  those  of  any  other  political  philosopher.  It 
will   come   about   by   experience,   and    by    instinct    rather 


364     THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

than  by  reflection.  For  the  evils  and  corruptions  of  which 
we  daily  complain  arise  from  democratic  theories  of  politics, 
developed  and  applied  without  reference  to  the  actual 
circumstances  of  the  case,  and  under  assumptions  which 
are  false.  Experience  has  convinced  nearly  all  of  us  who 
are  willing  to  think  about  the  matter  that  rotation  in  oJ05ce 
is  mischievous  to  the  public  interest  and  demoralizing  to 
the  men  who  enter  the  public  service.  Experience  has 
long  since  brought  home  to  us  the  shame  of  the  doctrine 
that  to  the  victors  belong  the  spoils.  Experience  has 
shown  us  the  evils  of  frequent  elections  and  short  terms  of 
oflSce,  and  it  is  continually  opening  the  eyes  of  more  and 
more  of  us  to  the  evils  of  electing  a  large  number  of  ad- 
ministrative officers  and  making  them  independent  of  each 
other.  Experience  has  shown  us  the  inapplicability  of  the 
principle  of  election  to  the  selection  of  judges.  Experience 
is  showing  that  the  notion  of  the  responsibility  of  a  party 
is  a  delusion  and  that  the  notion  of  responsibility  to  the 
people  is  only  a  jingle  of  words;  and  as  new  constitutions 
are  formed  we  find  that  they  continually  take  more  guaran- 
tees from  the  people  against  themselves. 

On  the  contrary  the  path  of  reform  lies  in  the  direction 
of  stronger  constitutional  guarantees  and  greater  reverence 
for  law  as  law.  Any  conservative  party  which  fulfills  its 
function  in  this  country  will  have  to  take  its  stand  on  that 
platform.  Its  reforms  must  be  historical,  not  speculative. 
They  must  be  founded  in  the  genius  and  history  of  the 
country.  The  democracy  here,  in  the  sense  of  the  widest 
popular  participation  in  public  affairs,  is  inevitable  until 
the  land  is  taken  up  and  the  population  begins  to  press 
upon  the  means  of  subsistence,  that  is  to  say,  for  a  future 
far  beyond  what  we  need  take  into  consideration.  Our 
whole  history  shows  this,  and  the  part  which  I  have  dis- 
cussed shows  conclusively  what  we  may  also  all  see  in  our 
own    daily   observation — that   the  men,  the   parties,   the 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  ANDREW  JACKSON      365 

theories  which  oppose  themselves  to  this  tendency  are 
swept  down  Hke  seeds  before  a  flood.  It  is  idle  to  ask 
whether  is  it  a  good  tendency.  It  is  a  fact  —  a  fact 
whose  causes  arise  from  the  deepest  and  broadest  social 
and  economic  circumstances  of  the  country.  But  there 
is  a  foundation  for  true  constitutionalism  in  the  traditions 
of  our  race  and  in  our  inherited  institutions  —  in  our  in- 
herited reverence  for  law,  which  is  all  that  keeps  us  from 
going  the  way  of  Mexico  and  Peru. 

The  philosophers  and  book-men  have  no  great  role  offered 
them  in  a  new  country.  They  will  always  be  a  minority, 
they  will  always  be  holding  back  in  the  interest  of  law, 
order,  tradition,  liistory,  and  they  will  rarely  be  entrusted 
with  the  conduct  of  affairs;  but,  since  their  lot  is  cast  here, 
if  they  withdraw  from  the  functions  which  fall  to  them  in 
this  society,  such  as  it  is,  they  do  it  at  the  sacrifice  not  only 
of  duty  but  also  of  everything  which  makes  a  fatherland 
worth  having,  to  them  or  to  their  posterity.  The  fault 
which  they  commit  is  the  complement  of  that  committed 
by  their  opponents.  For  the  notion  which  underlies  de- 
mocracy is  that  of  rights,  tenacity  in  regard  to  rights,  the 
brutal  struggle  for  room  for  one's  self,  and,  still  more 
specifically,  for  equal  rights,  the  root  principle  of  which  is 
envy.  This  was  abundantly  illustrated  in  Jackson's  day. 
The  opposition  of  his  supporters  to  bank  and  tariff  had  no 
deeper  root  than  this,  and  the  name  they  chose  for  them- 
selves as  descriptive  of  their  aims  was  "The  Equal 
Rights  Party."  But  the  principle  of  political  life  lies  not 
in  rights  but  in  duties.  The  struggle  for  rights  is  at  best 
war.  The  subjection  to  duty  reaches  the  same  end,  reaches 
it  far  better,  and  reaches  it  through  peace.  Still  less  is 
there  any  principle  of  poHtical  health  in  the  idea  of  equality 
of  rights,  much  as  some  people  seem  to  believe  the  op- 
posite. In  pohtical  history  it  has  been  the  melancholy 
province  of  France   to  show  us  that  if  you  emphasize 


366     THE  FORGOTTEN   MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

equality  you  reduce  all  to  a  dead  level  of  slavery,  with  a 
succession  of  revolutions  to  bring  about  a  change  of 
masters. 

If,  then,  the  classes  which  are  by  education  and  position 
conservative  withdraw  from  public  activity,  pride  them- 
selves on  their  cleanness  from  political  mire,  and  satisfy 
themselves  at  most  with  a  negative  and  destructive  inter- 
ference at  the  polls  from  time  to  time,  the  conception  of 
political  duty  with  them  must  be  as  low  as  with  their 
opponents;  and  I  will  add  that  they  will  at  best  turn  from 
one  set  of  masters  to  another,  under  a  general  and  steady 
deterioration  in  the  political  tone  of  the  country.  If  we 
have  to-day  a  society  in  which  we  go  our  ways  in  peace, 
freedom,  and  security,  a  society  from  the  height  of  which 
we  look  back  upon  the  life  of  the  sixteenth  and  seven- 
teenth centuries  with  a  shudder,  we  owe  it  to  no  class  of 
men  who  wrote  satirical  essays  on  contemporary  politics 
and  said  to  one  another:  "WTiat  is  the  use.'*"  Elliott 
and  Hampden  and  Sydney  and  these  revolutionary  heroes 
whose  praise  we  are  just  now  chanting  did  not  win  for  us 
all  the  political  good  we  owe  them  by  any  such  policy  as 
that.  There  was  no  use,  as  far  as  any  one  could  see,  in  their 
cases.  They  risked  persecution,  imprisonment,  the  axe, 
and  the  scaffold,  and  their  puny  efforts  seemed  ridiculous 
in  the  face  of  the  task  they  undertook;  but  they  never 
stopped  to  think  of  that.  They  saw  that  it  was  the  right 
thing  to  do  then  to  speak  or  to  resist,  and  they  did  it  and 
let   the   end   take   care   of   itself. 

Now  we  Americans  of  to-day  have  no  heroic  deeds  to 
perform.  We  have  no  fear  of  the  stake  or  the  axe  for 
political  causes.  We  are  not  called  upon  to  do  any  grand 
deeds.  Perhaps  it  would  be  easier  if  we  were.  If  we  had 
a  Caesar  at  Washington  I  would  warrant  him  his  Brutus 
within  a  fortnight.  But  we  have  need  of  the  same  sense 
of  duty  which  has  animated  all  the  heroes  of  constitutional 


ADMINISTRATION   OF  ANDREW  JACKSON      367 

government  and  civil  liberty,  and  I  am  not  sm-e  but  we 
need  some  of  their  courage  also,  for  it  demands  at  least 
as  much  moral  courage  to  beard  King  Majority  as  it  ever 
did  to  beard  King  Caesar.  Nothing  less  than  the  experi- 
ment of  self-government  is  at  stake  in  the  question  whether 
thousands  of  citizens  are  capable  of  that  form  of  duty 
which  makes  a  man  work  on  without  results  and  without 
reward,  even,  it  may  be,  in  the  face  of  misrepresentation 
and  abuse,  simply  because  he  sees  a  certain  direction  in 
which  his  efforts  ought  to  be  expended. 

Such,  however,  I  conceive  to  be  the  calling  of  the  con- 
servative classes  of  this  country,  at  least  for  this  generation. 
We  have  undertaken  to  govern  ourselves,  and  we  are  just 
finding,  now  that  the  country  is  filling  up  and  its  cities 
growing  large,  that  it  is  a  great  task,  that  it  takes  time  and 
thought,  that  we  need  any  and  all  resources  of  science  and 
experience  which  we  can  call  to  our  aid;  and  we  are  finding 
especially  that  the  forms  of  law  and  of  the  Constitution 
are  every  year  more  essential,  and  the  untamed  forces 
of  society  more  dangerous.  No  supernatural  interference 
will  come  to  our  assistance.  No  man,  no  committee,  no 
party,  no  centralized  organization  of  the  general  govern- 
ment, can  rid  us  of  our  diflSculties  and  yet  leave  us  self- 
government.  Nor  can  we  invent  any  machinery  of  elections 
or  of  government  which  will  do  the  work  for  us.  We  have 
got  to  face  the  problems  like  men,  animated  by  patriotism, 
acting  with  business-hke  energy,  standing  together  for 
the  common  weal.  Whenever  we  do  that  we  cannot  fail 
of  success  in  getting  what  we  want;  so  long  as  we  do 
not  do  that,  our  complaints  of  political  corruption  are  the 
idlest  and  most  contemptible  expressions  which  grown  men 
can  utter. 


THE   COMMERCIAL  CRISIS   OF   1837 


THE   COMMERCIAL   CRISIS  OF   1837 

[1877-1878] 

THE  decade  from  1830  to  1840  is  the  most  important 
and  interesting  in  the  history  of  the  United  States. 
The  political,  social,  and  industrial  forces  which  were  in 
action  were  grand,  and  their  interaction  produced  such 
complicated  results,  that  it  is  difficult  to  obtain  a  just 
and  comprehensive  view  of  their  relations  and  influences. 
In  the  first  place,  the  United  States  advanced  between  the 
second  war  with  England  and  1830  to  a  position  of  full 
and  high  standing  in  the  family  of  nations.  The  security 
and  stability  of  the  government  were  accepted  as  estab- 
lished. England  and  France,  on  the  other  hand,  just 
before  and  after  1830,  were  involved  in  social  and  poHtical 
troubles  of  an  alarming  kind.  By  contrast,  the  United 
States,  with  a  rapidly  increasing  population,  expanding 
production  and  trade,  a  contented  people,  and  a  surplus 
revenue  offered  great  attractions  to  both  laborers  and 
capital.  At  the  same  time  the  pride  of  the  Americans  in 
their  country  produced  self-reliance,  energy,  and  enter- 
prise which  laughed  at  difficulties.  New  means  of  trans- 
portation by  steamboats  and  canals  were  opening  up  the 
country  and  assuring  to  the  population  the  advantages  of 
a  new  and  unbounded  continent.  Production  therefore 
offered  high  returns  to  both  labor  and  capital. 

The  advantages  of  a  new  country  were  credited  to  the 
political  institutions  of  democracy,  and  increasing  pros- 
perity, due  to  the  fresh  resources  brought  within  reach, 
was  held  to  be  proof  of  the  truth  of  the  political  dogmas 
entertained  by  the  workers.     A  sort  of  boyish  exuberance, 

371 


372     THE  FORGOTTEN   MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

compounded  of  inexperience,  ignorance,  and  fearless  enter- 
prise, marked  politics  as  well  as  industry.  Jackson's 
election  in  1828  brought  to  power  a  party  which  had  been 
produced  by  these  circumstances. 

The  war  debt  of  1812  became  payable  in  the  years  after 
1824  and  was  distributed  over  the  period  down  to  1835. 
With  growth  and  increasing  prosperity,  the  revenue  in- 
creased with  such  rapidity  that  the  debt  could  be  paid 
almost  as  fast  as  it  became  payable.  The  chief  purposes 
for  which  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  had  been  founded 
in  1816  were  to  provide  a  sound  and  uniform  paper  cur- 
rency convertible  w^ith  specie,  of  uniform  value  throughout 
the  Union,  and  to  act  as  jBscal  agent  for  the  government, 
holding  the  revenue  wherever  collected  and  disbursing  the 
expenditures  wherever  they  were  to  be  made.  The  interest 
of  the  government  and  the  people  was  the  motive,  and  the 
bank  charter  was  a  contract  with  the  Bank  to  perform  the 
services  for  specified  considerations.  One  of  the  consider- 
ations was  the  right  of  the  Bank  to  use  the  deposits  as 
loanable  capital.  The  government  was  not  bound  to  keep 
any  balance  over  expenditure,  but  the  revenue  was  so  large 
that  the  Bank  came  to  hold  annually  increasing  average  de- 
posits of  from  five  to  eight  or  nine  millions  of  public  money, 
which  it  used  for  profit.  From  this  vicious  arrangement 
two  consequences  followed:  first,  public  attention  was 
directed  to  the  deposits,  not  as  existing  for  the  public 
service,  but  for  the  profit  of  the  Bank;  and,  second,  the 
public  considered  itself  entitled  to  claim  something  of  the 
Bank  besides  true  business  credit,  in  the  matter  of  discounts. 

Jackson  opened  the  war  on  the  Bank  publicly  in  his 
first  message.  Sharp  correspondence  had  been  going 
on  already  between  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  and  the 
Bank,  which  had  reached  such  a  point  that  the  Secretary 
had  referred  to  the  removal  of  the  deposits  as  a  power  in 
his   hands   to   coerce   the  Bank.     Generally   speaking,  the 


THE  COMMERCIAL  CRISIS  OF   1837  373 

state  of  the  Bank  and  the  state  of  the  currency  were  satis- 
factory in  1830,  but  the  Bank  had  begun  in  1827  to  issue 
branch  drafts  which  stimulated  credit  and  soon  produced 
mischief.  Of  the  war  on  the  Bank  it  is  not  necessary  to 
speak  in  detail.  In  December,  1831,  Clay  was  nominated 
for  President  by  the  National  Republicans,  and  he  and 
his  friends  determined  to  bring  on  the  question  of  the  re- 
charter  of  the  Bank  as  a  campaign  issue.  The  re-charter 
was  passed  by  Congress  and  vetoed  by  the  President 
in  1832.  The  issue  in  the  campaign  was  thus  made  up  be- 
tween the  personal  popularity  of  Jackson  and  of  the  Bank. 
The  former  won  an  overwhelming  victory  which  he  con- 
strued to  mean  that  the  people  had  weighed  the  question 
of  re-chartering  the  Bank  and  had  decided  against  it. 

In  September,  1833,  he  removed  the  deposits  from  the 
National  Bank  on  his  own  responsibility,  and  placed  them 
in   selected   state  banks  which  would  agree  to  keep  one- 
third  of    their  note  circulation  in  coin,  redeem  all  notes 
on  demand,  and  issue  no  notes  under  a  five-dollar  denomina- 
tion.    This  was  to  be  an  experiment.     In  the  meantime  the 
administration  was  eagerly  pressing  on  the  extinction  of 
the  public  debt.     The  consequences  were  such  as  to  prove 
that,  however  popular  such  a  policy  may  be,  it  may  easily  be 
carried  too  far.     The  pubHc  deposits  were  loaned  by  the 
Bank  to  merchants,  then  recalled  and  paid  to  the  public 
creditors,  and  then  reinvested  by  them,  so  that  the  money 
market  was  subjected  to  recurrent  and  sudden  shocks.    The 
withdrawal  and  transfer  of  the  deposits  constituted  another 
and  more  violent  operation  of  the  same  kind,  so  that  there 
was  a  crisis  and  panic  in  the  spring  of  1834.     The  eight  or 
nine  millions  of  public  deposits  were  a  continual  source  of 
mischief  to  the  money  market.     By  the  contraction  of  the 
Bank  of  the  United  States  to  pay  the  deposits,  and  the 
contraction  of  the  state  banks  to  put  themselves  within 
the  rule  for  receiving  the  same,  the  currency,  in  the  summer 


374     THE  FORGOTTEN   MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

of  1834,  was  perhaps  better  than  ever  before.  The  coinage 
act  of  June,  1834,  turned  the  standard  over  from  silver  to 
gold. 

The  deposit  banks  were  urged  to  discount  freely  so  as 
to  satisfy  the  public  with  the  change.  Banks  were  organ- 
ized in  great  numbers  all  over  the  country  to  take  the  place 
of  the  great  Bank  and  to  get  a  share  in  the  profits  of  hand- 
ling the  public  money.  On  January  1,  1835,  the  debt  was  all 
paid  and  the  government  had  no  further  use  for  its  surplus 
revenue.  There  was  but  one  correct  and  straightforward 
course  to  pursue  in  such  a  case  and  that  was  to  lower  taxes 
so  as  not  to  collect  any  surplus,  but  this  the  Compromise 
Act  forbade.  The  surplus  revenue  was  the  greatest  annoy- 
ance to  the  protectionists  who  wanted  to  keep  duties  high 
for  *' incidental  protection,"  and  they  proposed  scheme 
after  scheme  for  distributing  the  lands,  or  the  proceeds 
of  the  lands,  or,  finally,  the  surplus  revenue  itself,  so  as 
to  cut  down  the  revenue  without  reducing  the  import 
duties. 

With  the  increase  of  banks  and  bank  issues  speculation 
began.  It  became  marked  in  the  spring  of  1835  and  went 
on  increasing  for  two  years.  Cotton  was  rising  in  price, 
for  the  new  machinery,  and  new  means  of  transportation 
in  England,  together  with  the  extension  of  joint  stock 
banks  there,  had  given  a  great  stimulus  to  the  cotton 
manufacturer.  There  was  an  increasing  demand  for  the 
raw  material.  It  followed  that  the  cities  in  which  the 
exchange  and  banking  of  all  this  industry  were  carried 
on  also  enjoyed  great  prosperity.  Railroads  were  just 
being  introduced  and  ships  were  needed  to  transport  the 
products.  Thus  from  natural  causes  the  period  was  one  of 
immense  industrial  development.  The  great  need  for 
carrying  it  on  was  capital,  and  the  political  incidents  which 
brought  about  or  encouraged  the  bank  expansion  may  be 
regarded  as  accidental.     The  combination  of  the  two  in 


THE  COMMERCIAL  CRISIS  OF   1837  375 

fact,  however,  produced  a  wild  speculation.  The  banks 
furnished  credit,  not  capital,  and  being  restrained  by  usury 
laws  from  exerting  through  the  rate  of  discount  the  proper 
check  upon  an  inflated  or  speculative  market  they  em- 
barked with  the  business  community  on  a  course  where  all 
landmarks  were  soon  lost. 

No  sooner,  however,  was  this  condition  of  the  com- 
mercial and  banking  community  well  established  than  a 
new  shock  was  given  by  another  political  interference. 
The  administration  had  now  advanced  to  the  point  of 
desiring  to  establish  a  specie  currency  for  the  country. 
The  object  was  laudable  and  the  means  taken  were  proper, 
but,  following  as  they  did  in  the  train  of  the  events  already 
mentioned,  they  produced  new  confusion.  In  1836  various 
acts  were  passed  to  bring  about  a  specie  currency,  and  in 
July  of  that  year  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  ordered 
the  receivers  of  public  money  to  take  only  gold  and  silver 
for  lands.  The  circumstances  warranted  this  order.  The 
sales  of  lands  had  risen  from  two  or  three  to  twenty-four 
million  dollars  in  a  year,  and  the  amount  was  paid  in  the 
notes  of  " banks''^  which  deserved  no  credit.  If  the  nation 
was  not  to  be  swindled  out  of  the  lands  the  measure  was 
necessary.  It  then  became  necessary  for  the  purchasers 
of  land  to  carry  specie  to  the  West  and  vast  amounts  of  it 
accumulated  in  the  offices  of  the  receivers,  or  were  trans- 
ferred at  great  trouble  and  expense  to  deposit  banks.  The 
specie  was  obtained  from  the  eastern  banks,  and  inasmuch 
as  the  whole  existing  system  had  pushed  them  to  the  utmost 
limit  of  expansion,  these  demands  for  specie  were  embar- 
rassing. Two  points  here  deserve  notice.  It  is  strange 
to    see   what    a   superstition    about    "specie"    had    taken 

^  Some  counterfeiters  were  arrested  at  New  York  in  a  garret  where  they  had 
$20,000  in  notes  of  the  "Ottawa  Bank"  and  $800  in  specie.  They  were  very  in- 
dignant —  said  they  were  a  "bank"  and  were  printing  their  notes  at  New  York  for 
economy.  They  came  so  nearly  within  the  definition  of  a  "bank"  current  at  this 
time  that  they  escaped  on  this  plea. 


376     THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

possession  of  the  public  mind.  It  was  regarded  as  a  good 
thing  to  have,  but  too  good  to  use.  A  specie  dollar  was 
regarded  as  an  excuse  for  its  owner  to  print  and  circulate 
from  three  to  twenty  paper  ones,  but  it  was  not  regarded 
as  having  any  other  use.  The  withdrawal  of  the  specie 
basis  from  an  inflated  paper  was  no  doubt  a  serious  blow 
to  the  whole  fabric,  but,  if  the  paper  had  not  been  redun- 
dant the  transfer  of  specie  to  the  West  could  only  have 
forced  an  importation  of  so  much  more.  This  superstition 
about  specie  also  prevented  any  demand  upon  the  banks 
for  specie  for  any  purpose.  Such  a  demand  was  regarded 
as  a  kind  of  social  or  business  crime.  Hence  the  "con- 
vertibility" of  the  notes  was  a  polite  fiction.  The  second 
point  worth  noticing  is  that  the  bank  advocates  continually 
talked  about  "the  credit  system"  when  they  meant  the 
system  of  issuing  credit  bank  notes;  and  they  grew  eloquent 
about  the  advantages  of  credit,  as  if  those  advantages 
could  only  be  won  by  using  worthless  bank  notes  and  not 
by  lending  gold  or  silver  or  capital  in  any  form. 

We  are  not  yet,  however,  at  the  end  of  the  political  acts 
which  threw  the  money  market  into  convulsions.  The 
opposition  succeeded,  in  the  summer  of  the  presidential 
election  year,  1836,  in  passing  an  act  to  deposit  with  the 
states  the  surplus  over  a  balance  of  five  millions  in  the 
Treasury  on  January  1,  1837.  The  amount  was  thirty-seven 
millions.  This  sum  was  scattered  in  eighty-nine  deposit 
banks  all  over  the  country.  Its  distribution  was,  therefore, 
controlled  by  local  pressure  and  political  favoritism,  not 
by  the  needs  of  the  government  (for  it  did  not  need  the 
money  at  all)  or  by  the  demand  and  supply  of  capital. 
The  banks  had  regarded  it  as  a  permanent  deposit  and  had 
loaned  it  in  aid  of  the  various  public  and  private  enterprises 
which  were  being  pushed  on  every  hand  at  such  a  rate  that 
labor  was  said  to  be  drawn  away  from  agriculture  so  that  the 
country  was  importing  bread  stuffs.     It  was  now  to  be 


THE  COMMERCIAL  CRISIS  OF  1837  377 

withdrawn  and  transferred  once  more,  and  this  time  it  was 
said  that,  if  these  "deposits"  were  such  an  advantage,  the 
states  ought  to  have  it,  and  could  then,  as  well  as  the  banks, 
be  called  on  to  give  back  the  money  whenever  it  might  be 
needed.  The  deposit  took  place  in  1837,  in  three  install- 
ments, January,  April,  and  July,  and  amounted  to  twenty- 
eight  millions.  The  fourth  installment  was  never  paid. 
The  money  was  all  squandered  or  worse. 

The  charter  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  was  to 
expire  on  the  3d  of  March,  1836.  One  year  before  that 
time  the  directors  ordered  the  "exchange  committee"  to 
loan  the  capital,  as  fast  as  it  should  be  released,  on  stocks, 
so  as  to  prepare  for  winding  up.  From  this  resolution 
dates  the  subsequent  history  of  the  Bank,  for  the  exchange 
committee  consisted  of  the  President  and  two  directors 
selected  by  him,  to  whose  hands  the  whole  business  of  the 
Bank  was  hereby  entrusted.  The  branches  were  sold  and 
the  capital  gradually  released  throughout  1835,  but  in 
February,  1836,  an  act  was  suddenly  passed  by  the  Penn- 
sylvania legislature  to  charter  the  United  States  Bank  of 
Pennsylvania,  continuing  the  old  Bank.  The  act  was 
said  to  have  been  obtained  by  bribery,  but  investigation 
failed  to  prove  it.  The  most  open  bribery  was  on  the 
face  of  it,  for  it  provided  for  several  pet  local  schemes  of 
public  improvement,  for  a  bonus  and  loans  to  the  state  by 
the  Bank,  and  for  abolishing  taxes  —  provisions  which 
secured  the  necessary  support  to  carry  it. 

During  the  year  1836  the  money  market  was  very  strin- 
gent. The  enterprises,  speculations,  and  internal  improve- 
ments demanded  continual  new  supplies  of  capital.  The 
amount  of  securities  exported  grew  greater  and  greater 
and  kept  the  foreign  exchanges  depressed.  American 
importing  houses  contracted  larger  and  longer  debts  to 
foreign  agents.  The  money  market  in  England  became 
very    stringent   likewise,    and   these    long   credits   became 


378     THE  FORGOTTEN   MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

harder  and  harder  to  carry.  Three  English  houses,  Will- 
son,  Wildes,  and  Wiggins,  had  become  especially  engaged 
in  these  American  credits  which  they  found  it  necessary 
to  curtail.  The  winter  was  one  of  continual  stringency, 
aggravated  by  popular  discontent,  riots,  and  trades-union 
disturbances,  arising  from  high  prices  and  high  rents.  The 
failures  commenced  on  the  fourth  of  March,  1837,  the  day 
that  Van  Buren  was  inaugurated,  in  ]\Iississippi  and  Louisi- 
ana. Hermann,  Briggs  &  Co.,  of  New  Orleans,  failed,  with 
liabilities  said  to  be  from  four  to  eight  millions.  As  soon 
as  this  was  known  in  New  York,  their  correspondents, 
J.  L.  &  S.  Joseph  &  Co.  failed.  The  first  break  in  the  ex- 
panded fabric  of  credit  therefore  came  in  connection  with 
cotton.  The  price  had  advanced  so  much  during  the  last 
three  or  four  years  as  to  draw  many  thousands  of  persons 
who  had  no  capital  into  cotton  production,  but  the  profits 
Were  so  great  that  a  good  crop  or  two  would  pay  for  all  the 
capital.  The  planters  of  Mississippi  especially  had  accord- 
ingly organized  themselves  into  banking  corporations 
and  issued  notes  as  the  easiest  way  to  borrow  the  capital 
they  wanted.  From  1830  to  1839  the  banking  capital  of 
Mississippi  increased  from  three  to  seventy-five  millions, 
which  of  course  represented  one  credit  built  upon  another, 
on  renewed  and  extended  debt,  as  the  old  planters  bought 
more  slaves  and  took  up  more  land  instead  of  paying  for 
the  old,  or  as  new  settlers  came  in.  Mississippi  was  there- 
fore indebted  to  the  Northeast  for  the  redemption  of  their 
immense  bank  debt,  or  for  the  capital  bought  with  it. 
The  high  rates  for  money  in  England  and  this  country 
at  last  checked  the  rise  in  cotton  in  1836.  Bad  harvests 
and  high  prices  for  food  fell  in  with  a  glut  of  manufactured 
cotton,  and  when  cotton  began  to  fall  ruin  was  certain. 
As  soon  as  the  revulsion  came  it  ran  through  the  whole 
speculative  system.  The  new  suburbs  which  had  been  laid 
out  in  every  city  and  village  never  came  to  anything. 


THE  COMMERCIAL  CRISIS  OF   1837  379 

Western  lands  lost  all  speculative  value,  and  railroad  and 
canal  stock  fell  with  rapidity. 

The  first  resort  for  help  was  to  Mr.  Biddle.  The  calamity 
most  apprehended  was  a  shipment  of  specie,  and  the  effort 
was  to  gain  an  extension  of  credit  or  the  substitution  of 
a  better  for  a  less  known  credit.  The  Bank  of  the  United 
States  had  high  credit  in  Europe,  and  indeed  all  over  the 
world.  Ultimately  payment  must  be  made  by  crops  yet 
to  be  produced  or  forwarded.  Biddle  entered  into  an 
agreement  with  the  New  York  banks  which  seems  to  have 
been  only  partially  carried  out,  but  he  sold  post  notes 
payable  one  year  from  date  at  Barny's  in  London.  He 
received  one  hundred  and  twelve  and  one-half  for  these, 
specie  being  at  one  hundred  and  seven.  The  bonds  were 
discounted  in  England  at  five  per  cent.  United  States 
Bank  stock  was  at  one  hundred  and  twenty. 

The  situation  in  England  was  so  serious  that  all  seemed 
to  depend  on  remittances  from  the  United  States.  The 
Bank  of  England  extended  aid  to  "the  three  W's"  to  the 
extent  of  five  hundred  thousand  pounds  on  a  guarantee 
made  up  in  the  city,  and  opened  a  credit  of  two  million 
pounds  for  the  United  States  Bank,  if  one-half  the  amount 
should  be  shipped  in  specie.  To  this  condition  the  L^nited 
States  Bank  would  not  agree.  The  proposition  attributed 
to  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  a  strength  which  it  did 
not  possess.  The  management  of  the  Bank  of  England  in 
this  and  the  two  following  years  was  bad,  and  did  much  to 
enhance  the  mischief  in  both  countries.  France  partici- 
pated in  the  distress  although  there  had  been  no  speculation 
there. 

A  delegation  of  New  York  merchants  was  sent  to  Wash- 
ington on  May  3  to  ask  the  President  to  recall  the  specie  cir- 
cular, to  defer  the  collection  of  duty  bonds,  and  to  call  an 
extra  session  of  Congress.  In  their  address  to  him  they 
sum  up  the  situation:    in  six  months  at  New  York,  real 


380     THE  FORGOTTEN   MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

estate  had  shrunk  forty  millions;  in  two  months  two 
hundred  and  fifty  firms  had  failed,  and  stocks  had  shrunk 
twenty  millions;  merchandise  had  fallen  thirty  per  cent, 
and  within  a  few  weeks  twenty  thousand  persons  had  been 
thrown  out  of  employment. 

Early  in  May  three  banks  at  Buffalo  failed.  On  May  8, 
the  Dry  Dock  Bank  (New  York)  failed..  On  the  tenth 
all  the  New  York  City  banks  suspended.  The  militia  were 
under  arms  and  there  were  fears  of  a  riot.  On  the  eleventh 
the  Philadelphia  banks  suspended,  because  the  New  York 
banks  had,  and  because,  although  they  had  plenty  of  specie 
for  themselves,  they  had  not  enough  for  the  whole  "Atlantic 
seaboard."  They  said,  however,  that  they  were  debtors, 
on  balance,  to  New  York.  As  the  news  spread  through 
the  country,  the  banks,  with  few  exceptions,  suspended. 
It  was  one  of  the  notions  born  of  the  bank  war  that  the 
United  States  Bank  was  guilty  of  oppression  when  it  called 
on  state  banks  for  their  balances,  and  the  state  banks 
had  practiced  "leniency"  towards  each  other.  Bank 
statements  of  the  period  show  enormous  sums  as  due  to  and 
from  other  banks.  This  was  what  carried  them  all  down 
together,  for  one  could  not  stand  alone  unless  its  debits 
and  credits  were  with  the  same  banks. 

During  the  summer  the  governors  of  several  states 
called  extra  sessions  of  the  legislatures.  The  President 
had  refused  to  recall  the  specie  circular,  or  to  call  an  extra 
session  of  Congress,  but  the  embarrassments  of  the  Treas- 
ury forced  him  to  do  the  latter.  The  collection  of  duty 
bonds  was  deferred  and  the  revenue  thereby  cut  off.  The 
public  money  was  in  the  suspended  banks,  and  the  Treas- 
ury, nominally  possessed  of  forty  millions,  at  the  very 
time  when  part  of  this  sum  was  being  paid  to  the  states, 
had  to  drag  along  from  day  to  day  by  the  use  of  drafts  on 
its  collectors  for  the  small  sums  received  or  by  chance  left 
over  in  their  hands  since  the  suspension.     As  notes  under 


THE   COMMERCIAL  CRISIS  OF   1837  381 

five  dollars  had  been  forbidden  by  nearly  all  the  states, 
and  as  specie  was  at  ten  per  cent  premium,  all  small  change 
disappeared,  and  the  towns  were  flooded  with  notes  and 
tickets  for  small  sums,  issued  by  municipalities,  corporations, 
and  individuals. 

The  most  interesting  fact  connected  with  this  commercial 
credit  is  that  New  York  and  Philadelphia  took  opposite 
policies  in  regard  to  it,  and  thus  offered,  in  their  differing 
experience,  an  experimental  test  of  those  policies.  The  New 
York  legislature  passed  an  act  allowing  suspension  for  one 
year.  The  New  York  policy  then  was  to  contract  liabili- 
ties and  prepare  for  resumption  at  the  date  fixed.  The 
Philadelphia  policy,  in  which  Mr.  Biddle  was  the  leader, 
was  to  wait  without  active  exertions  for  things  to  get  better. 
In  his  letter  of  May  13  to  Adams,  Biddle  said  that  the 
Bank  could  have  gone  on  without  trouble,  but  that  consider- 
ation for  the  rest  forced  him  to  go  with  them.  WTiat 
especially  moved  him  was  that,  if  the  Pennsylvania  banks 
had  not  suspended,  Pennsylvanians  would  have  had  to  do 
business  with  a  better  currency  than  the  New  Yorkers, 
which  would  have  been  unfair.  IVIr.  Biddle  knew  per- 
fectly well  that  the  exchanges  would  arrange  all  that. 
He  was  an  adept  at  writing  plausible  letters.  The  truth, 
which  was  not  known  until  four  years  later,  was  that  the 
capital  of  the  Bank  had  never  been  withdrawn  from  the 
stock  loans,  that  the  chief  officers  of  the  Bank  were  plunder- 
ing it,  and  that  suspension  was  not  more  welcome  to  any 
institution  in  the  country  than  to  the  great  Bank.  The 
jealousy  between  New  York  and  Pliiladelphia  was  very 
great  at  this  time.  Mr.  Biddle's  personal  vanity  seems 
to  have  been  greatly  flattered  when,  in  March,  he  was  called 
on  by  the  New  Yorkers  to  help  them.  He  was  still  the 
leading  financier  of  the  country.  The  business  men  could 
not  spare  him,  even  if  the  government  had  thrown  him  off. 
There  seems  also  to  be  some  evidence  that  he  hoped  that  a 


382     THE  FORGOTTEN   MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

great  and  universal  revulsion  would  force  the  general  govern- 
ment to  re-charter  his  Bank.  The  success  of  his  post  notes 
in  England  and  France  was  another  source  of  gratified 
vanity  to  him.  In  his  theory  of  banking  he  was  one  of 
those  who  believe  that  the  redemption  of  the  bank  note  is 
effected  by  the  merchandise.  Hence  banking  was,  for  him, 
an  art  by  which  the  banker  regulated  commerce  through 
expansions  and  contractions  of  the  circulation  according  to 
the  circumstances  which  he  might  observe  in  the  market. 

The  first  effect  of  the  opposite  courses  taken  by  New  York 
and  Philadelphia  was  very  favorable  to  his  views.  The 
southern  trade  was  transferred  from  New  York  to  Phila- 
delphia. Southern  notes  were  at  a  discount  of  twenty  or 
twenty-five  per  cent.  Receiving  these  notes  from  the 
merchants,  the  Bank  employed  them  through  Bevan  and 
Humphreys  in  buying  cotton.  This  operation  began  in 
July  and  was  intended  to  move  the  cotton  to  Europe  in 
order  to  meet  the  post  notes  of  the  Bank  when  they  should 
become  due.  The  firm  of  Biddle  and  Humphreys  was  also 
formed  and  established  at  Liverpool  as  the  agent  of  this 
operation.  In  the  extension  of  the  transaction  cotton  was 
bought  and  paid  for  by  drafts  on  Bevan  and  Humphreys 
of  Philadelphia,  which  drafts  were  discounted  by  the 
Bank.  Biddle  and  Humphreys,  having  sold  the  cotton, 
remitted  the  proceeds  to  Mr.  Jandon,  former  cashier  of  the 
Bank,  sent  to  England  as  its  agent  in  July.  To  all  this  it 
must  be  added  that  the  Bank  assumed  the  function  of 
securing,  for  its  producers,  a  good  or  fair  price  for  cotton. 
Jandon's  instructions  were  to  protect  the  interests  of  the 
bank,  and  "of  the  country  at  large." 

If  the  Bank  had  simply  been  a  strong,  sound  bank,  in- 
tent on  earning  profits,  it  would  have  sent  two  or  three 
millions  to  Europe,  selling  exchange  at  one  hundred  and 
twelve,  and  would  not  have  suspended.  The  rest  of  the 
story   would  then  have  been  very   different   for  all   con- 


THE  COMMERCIAL  CRISIS  OF   1837  383 

cerned.  The  arrival  in  June  of  a  ship  in  England  with  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars  specie  sufficed  to  sustain  Ameri- 
can credit  and  to  revive  American  securities.  WTien  the 
credit  of  a  debtor  is  tainted,  nothing  revives  it  like  payment. 

The  extra  session  of  Congress  met  on  September  4.  The 
fourth  installment  of  the  State  Deposit  Fund  was  post- 
poned until  January  1,  1839,  but  it  was  locked  up  in  the 
suspended  banks  and,  as  the  former  installments  had  been 
drawn  from  the  better  banks,  the  balance  due  was  all  in 
the  worst  banks  of  the  country,  those  of  the  southwestern 
states.  As  they  had  loaned  it  to  their  customers,  it  was, 
in  fact,  amongst  the  people  of  those  states.  A  law  was 
passed  to  institute  suit  against  these  banks  unless  they 
paid  on  demand,  or  gave  bonds  to  do  so  in  three  installments 
before  July  1,  1839.  There  were  only  six  deposit  banks 
then  paying  specie;  one  was  new,  four  had  not  suspended, 
and  one  had  resumed.  Power  to  call  on  the  states  for  the 
funds  "deposited"  with  them  was  taken  from  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Treasury  and  held  by  Congress.  Interest- 
bearing  Treasury  notes  were  provided  for  one  year,  to 
meet  expenses,  and  an  extension  of  nine  months  was 
given  on  duty  bonds.  At  this  session  the  sub- treasury 
system  was  brought  forward  as  an  administration  measure. 
It  split  the  party.  The  "bank  democrats"  (state  bank 
interest  which  joined  the  Jackson  party  in  1832  to  break 
down  the  United  States  Bank)  went  into  opposition.  The 
advocates  of  the  "credit  system"  said  the  sub-treasury 
scheme,  by  giving  the  government  control  of  the  specie  in 
the  country,  would  give  it  control  of  all  credit.  Mean- 
while Benton  said  that  the  eighty  million  specie  in  the  coun- 
try was  its  bulwark  against  adversity,  and  the  Locofocos 
said  that  any  one  who  exported  specie  was  a  British  hire- 
ling.   So  that  there  was  a  fine  confusion  of  financial  notions. 

In  the  fall  the  English  money  market  became  much 
easier,  and  the  same  tendency  appeared  here.     Specie  at 


384     THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

New  York  was  at  about  seven  per  cent  premium,  but  steadily 
declining.  Prices  of  breadstuffs  remained  very  high  (flour 
nine  dollars  to  nine  dollars  and  a  half  at  New  Y^ork)  and 
the  stagnation  of  industry  was  complete.  Migration  to 
the  West  was  large. 

On  August  18  the  New  York  banks  called  a  convention 
of  banks  to  deliberate  on  resumption.  The  Philadelphia 
banks  frustrated  the  proposition  by  refusing.  A  conven- 
tion met  in  October  but  adjourned  without  action  until 
April.  On  the  7th  of  April  the  New  Y^ork  banks  had 
assets  two  and  a  half  times  their  liabilities,  excluding 
real  estate,  and  were  creditors  of  the  Philadelphia  banks 
for  $1,200,000.  They  had  reduced  their  liabilities  from 
$25,400,000  on  January  1,  1837  to  $12,900,000  on  Jan- 
uary 1,  1838,  and  the  foreign  exchanges  were  favorable. 

The  bank  convention  met  April  1,  1838,  and  voted  by 
states  to  resume  January  1,  1839,  without  precluding  an 
earlier  day.  New  York  and  Mississippi  alone  voted  nay, 
the  former  because  the  date  was  too  remote;  the  latter 
because  it  was  too  early.  New  England  joined  Philadelphia 
and  Baltimore  for  the  later  day.  Mr.  Biddle  published 
another  letter  in  which  he  blamed  the  rigor  of  the  contrac- 
tion at  New  York;  he  wanted  to  remain  "prepared  to 
resume  but  not  resuming,"  and  looked  to  Congress  to  do 
the  work.  The  exchange  between  New  York  and  Phila- 
delphia was  then  four  and  a  half  per  cent  against  the  latter. 
The  southwestern  exchanges  were  growing  worse  On  May 
1,  the  Philadelphia  banks  resolved  to  pay  specie  for  de- 
mands under  one  dollar.  The  Bank  of  England  engaged 
to  send  one  million  pounds  in  specie  to  support  resump- 
tion, and  did  send  one  hundred  thousand  pounds,  but  then 
receded  from  the  undertaking;  its  stock  of  specie  was  now 
very  large  and  increasing.  The  New  York  banks  resumed 
during  the  first  week  in  May,  the  Boston  and  New  England 
banks  generally  at  the  same  time.     Specie  was  coming  into 


THE   COMMERCIAL  CRISIS  OF   1837  385 

New  York.  On  May  31  Congress  repealed  the  specie 
circular,  whereupon  IMr.  Biddle  published  another  letter 
saying  that  since  Congress  had  acted,  he  saw  his  way  to 
resumption  and  would  "cooperate."  The  Bank  had,  at  this 
time,  over  thirteen  millions  loaned  on  "bills  receivable," 
that  is,  on  securities  put  in  the  teller's  drawer,  as  cash  to 
replace  cash  taken  out. 

After  the  adjournment  of  Congress  on  July  9  there  was 
a  much  better  feeling,  especially  on  account  of  the  defeat 
of  the  sub-treasury  bill,  and  on  July  10,  Governor  Ritner 
of  Pennsylvania  published  a  proclamation  requiring  the 
banks  to  resume  on  August  13,  and  to  pay  and  withdraw 
all  notes  under  five  dollars.  On  July  23  a  bank  conven- 
tion composed  of  delegates  from  the  middle  states  met  at 
Philadelphia.  It  was  agreed  to  resume  on  August  13. 
The  Philadelphia  banks  were  obliged  to  contract  very  sud- 
denly and  money  was  very  dear  there.  As  soon  as  they 
resumed  there  were  demands  on  them  from  New  York,  ex- 
change being  against  them.  This  caused  excitement  and 
indignation.  The  banks  generally  declared  dividends  as 
soon  as  they  resumed.  Elsewhere,  here  and  in  England, 
money  was  easy  and  the  times  rapidly  improving.  There 
was,  however,  a  feverish  and  uncertain  market  for  cotton. 
Biddle  and  Humphreys  were  carrying  an  immense  stock, 
and  buyers  and  sellers  differed  as  to  prices. 

On  December  10,  1838,  Biddle  published  another  letter 
to  Adams  in  which  he  reviewed  his  policy  of  the  last  two 
years,  and  withdrew  the  Bank  from  all  its  former  public 
activitj'.  He  says:  "It  abdicates  its  involuntary  power." 
He  defended  the  cotton  speculations,  saying  that  he  had 
saved  the  great  staple  of  our  country  from  being  sacrificed, 
by  introducing  a  new  competitor  into  the  market.  Here 
then  was  a  buyer  who  had  gone  into  the  market  on  purpose 
to  "bull"  some  one  else's  property.  His  fate  could  not 
be  very  doubtful.     At  this  same  time  the  Liverpool  market 


386     THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

was  very  dull  and  the  spinners  were  curtailing  their  de- 
mands because  the  supply  was  under  the  control  of  specu- 
lators. It  was  true,  as  was  asserted,  that  the  crop  was 
short,  but  the  buyers  took  this  for  a  speculator's  story, 
and,  anticipating  a  break  in  the  corner  and  a  fall  in  price, 
they  refused  to  buy.  The  speculation  no  doubt  unduly 
depressed  the  price.  The  southwestern  agents  of  the  Bank 
of  the  United  States  were  offering  advances  of  from  two 
to  five  cents  above  the  market  price  to  secure  consignments 
to  Biddle  and  Humphreys,  and  Mr.  Jandon,  because  he  had 
lost  instead  of  winning  confidence,  was  paying  ruinous  rates 
for  money  to  carry  on  his  operations. 

During  the  winter  most  of  the  southern  and  western 
banks  resumed,  at  least  nominally,  but  as  the  spring  of  1839 
approached  the  southern  exchanges  again  fell  and  many  of 
the  banks  suspended  again.  On  March  29  Biddle  resigned 
the  presidency  of  the  Bank,  saying  that  he  left  it  strong  and 
prosperous.  The  stock  fell  from  one  hundred  and  sixteen 
to  one  hundred  and  twelve,  but  soon  recovered.  The 
money  market  became  stringent  again,  influenced  by  fears 
of  the  South. 

In  March,  by  speculative  sales,  by  the  diminution  of 
stock,  and  by  the  real  shortness  of  the  crop,  cotton  was 
forced  up  one  and  one-fourth  pence  at  Liverpool,  and 
Biddle  and  Humphreys  sold  out  their  entire  stock.  The 
net  profit  was  six  hundred  thousand  dollars.  This  was  re- 
garded as  a  great  triumph,  and  as  a  complete  vindication 
of  Biddle*s  policy.  In  July,  1839,  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States  paid  a  semi-annual  dividend  of  four  per  cent  —  its 
last  one. 

The  success  of  the  cotton  speculation  led  to  a  plan  for 
renewing  it  on  a  grander  scale.  On  June  6,  an  unsigned 
circular  was  published  at  New  York,  which  proposed  a 
scheme  for  advancing  three-fourths  of  the  value  at  fourteen 
cents  on  all  cotton  consigned  to  Biddle  and  Humphreys. 


THE  COMMERCIAL  CRISIS  OF   1837  387 

They  were  to  "hold  on  until  prices  vigorously  rally."  The 
agent,  Mr.  Wilder,  declared  that  this  had  nothing  to  do  with 
the  United  States  Bank,  so  far  as  he  knew.  It  was,  how- 
ever, a  scheme  of  the  Bank.  The  Southwestern  notes  were 
falling  lower  and  lower,  and  the  post  notes  issued  in  the 
Southwest  the  year  before  were  now  falling  due,  and  were 
not  paid.  The  pressure  of  this  fell  on  Philadelphia,  where 
money  was  up  to  fifteen  per  cent  and  the  banks  were  cur- 
tailing. The  news  from  England  was  also  bad.  Cotton  was 
down  two  cents.  The  specie  of  the  Bank  of  England  was 
rapidly  declining  and  money  was  at  five  per  cent.  The 
arrangements  from  this  side  in  1837  had  simply  consisted 
in  renewals  or  extensions,  and  as  yet  few  payments  had 
been  made.  Stocks,  etc.,  were  sent  over,  but  they  fell 
upon  a  glutted  and  stringent  market  and  the  prices  de- 
clined. These  securities  therefore  did  not  furnish  means  of 
payment,  and  specie  shipments  were  found  to  be  neces- 
sary. The  Bank  of  the  United  States  had  prevented  any 
shipment  of  specie  by  offering  all  the  bills  demanded  at 
one  hundred  and  nine  and  a  half,  and  Mr.  Jandon  had 
been  obliged  to  adopt  the  most  reckless  means  to  meet 
these  bills.  In  August  he  wrote  to  Biddle  and  Humphreys 
to  supply  him  with  money  at  any  sacrifice  of  cotton.  "Life 
or  death  to  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  is  the  issue." 
The  Bank  here  urged  Bevan  and  Humphreys  to  direct 
their  agents  to  meet  Jandon's  demands  and  the  Bank 
assumed  the  loss.  In  August  the  Bank  sent  an  agent 
to  New  York,  to  draw  all  the  bills  he  could  sell  on 
Hottinguer  at  Paris,  to  draw  the  proceeds  in  specie  from 
the  New  York  banks,  and  to  ship  it  to  meet  the  bills, 
the  object  being  to  force  the  New  York  banks  to  sus- 
pend in  order  that  their  example  might  again  be  quoted. 
The  Bank  also  sold  its  post  notes  at  a  discount  of  eighteen 
per  cent  per  annum  in  Boston,  New  York,  Baltimore,  and 
smaller  places,  and  gathered  up  capital  to  meet  the  emer- 


388     THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

gency  at  Philadelphia  caused  by  the  failure  of  the  Southern 
remittances.  The  money  markets  in  all  these  cities  were 
very  stringent  until  October.  On  the  ninth  of  that  month 
the  Bank  of  the  United  States  failed  on  drafts  from  New 
York,  and  on  the  tenth  the  news  was  received  that  the 
drafts  on  Hottinguer  had  been  protested.  He  had  given 
notice  that  he  would  not  pay  unless  he  was  covered,  and  the 
drafts  arrived  before  the  specie  did.  Jandon  succeeded  in 
getting  Rothschild  to  take  up  the  bills.  The  amount  was 
seven  million  francs. 

The  banks  south  and  west  of  New  York  and  some  of 
the  Rhode  Island  banks  now  suspended  again.  Specie 
at  Philadelphia  was  at  one  hundred  and  seven  to  one 
hundred  and  seven  and  one-half.  United  States  Bank 
stock  at  seventy.  On  October  15,  it  was  at  eighty,  and 
sold  at  New  York  at  one-fourth  premium.  Scarcely  any 
New  York  City  notes  were  in  circulation. 

This  suspension  was  the  real  catastrophe  of  the  specu- 
lative period  which  preceded.  A  great  and  general  liqui- 
dation now  began.  Perhaps  as  many  as  two  hundred  of 
these  banks  never  resumed.  The  stagnation  of  industry 
lasted  for  three  or  four  years.  The  public  improvements 
so  rashly  begun  were  suspended  or  abandoned.  The 
states  were  struggling  with  the  debts  contracted.  Some 
repudiated;  some  suspended  the  payment  of  interest. 
The  New  England  states  and  New  York  escaped  all  the 
harsher  features  of  this  depression  and  emerged  from  it 
first.  In  proportion  as  we  go  further  south  and  west  we 
find  the  distress  more  intense  and  more  prolonged.  The 
recovery  was  never  marked  by  any  distinct  point  of  time, 
but  came  gradually  and  imperceptibly. 

The  credit  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  bore  up 
wonderfully  under  the  shock  of  its  second  suspension.  Its 
friends  were  ready  to  attribute  its  misfortunes  to  con- 
spiracies, jealousy,  or  any  other  cause  but  its  own  faults. 


THE  COMMERCIAL  CRISIS  OF   1837  389 

They  did  not  indeed  know  its  internal  history.  It  might 
have  recovered  if  it  had  not  been  ruined  from  within. 
The  cotton  speculations  showed  a  loss,  in  the  summer  of 

1840,  after  saddling  the  Bank  with  all  possible  charges, 
of  $630,000  for  the  speculators.  The  legislature  of  Pennsyl- 
vania ordered  the  banks  to  resume  January  15,  1841.  On 
the  first  of  January,  1841,  a  statement  of  the  assets  of  the 
Bank  was  made,  when  it  appeared  that  they  consisted  of  a 
mass  of  doubtful  and  worthless  securities.  The  losses  to 
date  were  over  five  millions,  according  to  the  report  of  the 
directors,  but  over  seventeen  millions,  taking  the  stocks  at 
their  market  value.  The  Bank  resumed  January  15, 
with  the  other  Philadelphia  banks,  and  the  great  Bank 
loaned  the  state  four  hundred  thousand  dollars,  agreeing 
to  loan  as  much  more.  In  twenty  days  the  Philadelphia 
banks  lost  eleven  millions  in  specie,  of  which  six  millions 
were  taken  from  the  Bank  of  the  United  States.  On 
February  4  the  Bank  failed  for  the  third  and  last  time. 
Its  final  failure  was  said  to  be  due  to  stock  jobbers.  Suits 
were  at  once  begun  in  such  numbers  that  all  hope  of  ever 
resuscitating  it  had  to  be  abandoned.  Its  deposits,  when 
it  failed,  were  one  million  one  hundred  thousand  dollars 
and  its  notes  in  circulation  two  million  eight  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars.  Twenty-seven  millions  out  of  the  thirty-five 
of  its  capital  were   held  in  Europe.     The  stock,  in  March, 

1841,  was  at  seventeen.  A  committee  of  the  stockholders 
reported  in  April,  showing  the  internal  history  of  the 
Bank  for  five  years.  This  brought  out  from  Mr.  Biddle 
six  letters  of  explanation,  defense,  and  recrimination,  which 
are  valuable  chiefly  for  the  further  insight  they  give  into 
the  history.  As  to  the  winding  up  of  the  Bank  it  is  very 
difiicult  to  obtain  information.  Private  inquiries  lead  to 
the  following  results.  Three  trusts  were  constituted:  one 
for  the  city  banks  to  which  the  Bank  owed  five  or  six 
millions;   one  for  the  note-holders  and  depositors;   and  one 


390    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND   OTHER  ESSAYS 

for  the  other  creditors.  The  city  banks,  the  note-holders, 
and  the  depositors  were  ultimately  paid  in  full.  The  other 
claims  were  bought  up  by  one  or  two  persons  who  took  the 
assets.     What  they  made  of  them  is  not  matter  of  history. 

The  attempt  of  the  Pennsylvania  banks  to  resume  in 
January,  1841,  had  been  the  signal  for  similar  attempts 
in  the  other  states.  The  banks  on  the  seaboard  as  far 
south  as  South  Carolina  generallj^  resumed,  and  in  the 
Western  and  Gulf  states  some  took  the  same  step.  All 
were  indebted  to  the  Northeast,  and  were  asked  to  pay  as 
soon  as  they  said  they  were  ready  to  pay.  Like  the  Phila- 
delphia banks  they  succumbed  to  this  demand.  The 
Virginia  banks  held  out  until  April,  when  the  suspension 
was  once  more  universal  south  of  New  York. 

All  the  states  except  New  Hampshire,  Vermont,  Rhode 
Island,  Connecticut,  and  Delaware  had  debts,  amounting 
in  all  to  nearly  two  hundred  millions.  The  Southern 
States  had  generally  contracted  these  debts  to  found  banks. 
The  Middle  and  Western  States  had  contracted  debts  for 
public  works.  In  the  former  case  the  profits  of  the  banks 
were  expected  to  cover  the  interest  on  the  debt.  In  the 
latter  case  the  works  were  expected  to  be  remunerative  in 
a  short  time,  and  the  interest  was  provided  for  in  the  mean- 
time by  bank  dividends  (on  stocks  owned  by  the  state, 
which  only  constituted  another  debt),  by  taxes  on  banks, 
and  by  royalties.  Both  schemes  were  plausible  and  might 
have  been  successful  if  managed  with  good  judgment  and 
moderation.  Under  the  actual  circumstances  they  were 
subject  to  political  control,  the  methods  of  which  were 
reckless  and  ignorant.  The  consequence  was  that  when 
credit  collapsed  and  the  English  market  no  longer  absorbed 
the  state  stocks  with  avidity,  the  states  found  themselves 
heavily  indebted,  bound  to  pay  large  interest  charges, 
and  without  the  anticipated  revenue.  The  state  banks 
of  the  South  had  loaned  their  borrowed  capital  to  legis- 


THE   COMMERCIAL  CRISIS  OF   1837  391 

lators  and  politicians,  and  had  no  assets  but  "suspended 
debt."  The  improvement  states  had  become  heavily 
indebted  to  their  own  banks  and  depended  on  bank  divi- 
dends to  pay  interest.  The  state  banks  all  held  state 
stocks  as  assets,  and  when  these  declined  in  value,  the 
banks  became  insolvent.  Thus  the  banking  system  was 
interlocked  with  the  state  finances  and  with  the  mania  for 
improvements  unwisely  planned  and  attempted  without 
reference  to  the  capital  at  command.  The  aversion  to 
taxation  was  very  strong,  and  as  taxation  was  delayed, 
one  state  after  another  defaulted  on  its  interest.  The 
delinquent  states  were  Pennsylvania  (which  laid  taxes  in 
1840,  but  inadequate  to  meet  the  deficiency),  IVIichigan 
(of  which  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  held  two  millions 
in  bonds  not  paid  for  when  it  failed),  Mississippi  (of  which 
the  same  bank  held  five  millions  in  bonds  the  obligation 
of  which  was  disputed  and  never  met),  Indiana  (whose 
debt  was  one-fifth  of  the  total  valuation),  Illinois,  Lou- 
isiana, Maryland  and  Arkansas,  and  Florida  territory  — 
total  amount,  one  hundred  and  eleven  millions.  In  five 
years  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  gave  to  Pennsyl- 
vania three  millions,  subscribed  nearly  half  a  million  to 
public  improvements  by  corporations,  and  loaned  the  state 
eight  and  one-half  millions.  In  1857-1858  Pennsylvania 
sold  out  her  works,  which  had  cost  thirty-five  millions,  for 
eleven  millions.  The  bonds  deposited  in  New  York  to 
secure  circulation  had  a  par  value  of  four  and  six-tenths 
millions,  but  were  worth  only  one  and  six-tenths  millions 
on  the  first  of  January,  1843.  As  early  as  March,  1841, 
this  decline  caused  a  panic  in  "Safety  Fund"  and  "Free 
Bank"  notes  at  New  York. 

Pennsylvania  now  entered  on  another  experiment  which 
threatened  to  ruin  her  remaining  banks  as  the  reckless  de- 
mands on  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  had  helped  to  ruin 
that  institution.     On  May  3,  1841,  the  legislature  passed. 


392     THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

over  a  veto,  a  "Relief  Act."  The  object  was  to  secure  a 
loan  of  three  millions  from  the  banks.  The  Act  allowed 
them  to  issue  that  amount  in  small  notes  which  they  were 
to  subscribe  to  a  five  per  cent  loan.  They  were  to  redeem 
the  notes  in  five  per  cent  stock  on  demand  in  amounts 
over  one  hundred  dollars.  The  stocks  were  then  at  eighty 
and  specie  at  seven  per  cent  premium. 

The  best  financial  writer  in  the  country  at  that  time 
(Gouge)  said  of  this  Act:  Pennsylvania,  "after  having  bor- 
rowed as  much  as  she  could  in  the  old-fashioned  way  from 
banks  and  brokers,  and  domestic  and  foreign  capitalists,  re- 
solved to  extort  a  loan  of  a  dollar  a  head  from  every  washer- 
woman and  woodsawyer  and  everybody  else  within  her 
limits  who  had  a  dollar  to  lend.  But  as  washerwomen  and 
woodsawyers  and  other  dollar  people  cannot  long  dispense 
with  the  use  of  their  funds,  it  was  necessary  to  give  these 
certificates  of  loan  in  a  circulating  form,  so  that  the 
burden  might  be  shifted  from  one  to  another  day  by  day, 
or,  if  necessary,  two  or  three  times  a  day." 

The  summer  of  1841  was  marked  by  intense  distress 
in  Pennsylvania.  A  table  of  the  best  investment  stocks 
of  Philadelphia  shows  a  shrinkage  between  August,  1838, 
and  August,  1841,  from  sixty  million  to  three  and  one-half 
millions.  The  wages  class  was  exposed  to  the  bitterest 
poverty  and  distress.  The  Pennsylvanians  attributed  the 
trouble  to  the  want  of  a  protective  tariff.  For  a  time, 
in  the  autumn,  the  Relief  notes  seemed  to  act  beneficially. 
The  banks  took  them  and  they  circulated  at  par  with  the 
rest  of  the  state  currency.  In  January,  1842,  the  Girard 
Bank  failed,  and  about  the  same  time  the  Pennsylvania 
and  three  others  less  important,  and  by  March  a  crisis 
was  reached  worse  than  anything  which  had  preceded.  A  bill 
was  suddenly  passed  by  the  legislature  commanding  im- 
mediate resumption.  An  amendment  was  proposed  that 
the  banks  should  no  longer  be  bound  to  receive  the  Relief 


THE  COMMERCIAL  CRISIS  OF   1837  393 

notes,  although  the  state  should  do  so.  The  amendment 
was  afterwards  withdrawn,  but  the  Relief  notes  were  ruined. 
They  fell,  some  to  seventy-five  and  some  to  fifty  in  state 
currency  and  then  became  merchandise,  after  six  months 
and  three  days  of  use.  Capital  was  now  not  to  be  had 
at  four  per  cent  per  month,  but  this  bankruptcy  had 
cleared  the  situation.  The  eleven  banks  which  had  not 
failed  agreed  to  resume  on  March  18.  The  exchanges  with 
New  York  turned  in  favor  of  Philadelphia.  The  years 
1842  and  1843  were  years  of  great  depression.  The  banks 
throughout  the  west  and  south  were  liquidating,  after  which 
they  either  perished  or  resumed.  From  1843  a  new  sound 
and  healthy  development  of  industry  and  credit  began. 
The  recovery,  however,  was  very  slow,  and  banks  sprang 
up  again  sooner  and  faster  than  anything  else. 

The  total  amount  of  Relief  notes  issued  in  Pennsylvania 
was  two  and  one  tenth  millions.  In  January,  1843,  the 
amount  outstanding  was,  of  depreciated  $639,834,  of 
specie  value  (issued  by  banks  which  had  resumed)  $240,801. 
Bicknell's  Reporter  said:  "If  any  one  can  devise  an  imme- 
diate plan  whereby  the  people  can  get  rid  of  about  $700,000 
of  paper  trash,  he  will  be  entitled  to  the  name  of  a  public 
benefactor."  In  February,  1843,  the  Legislature  ordered 
the  Treasurer  to  cancel  $100,000  of  Relief  notes  at  once  and 
$.100,000  monthly  until  all  were  destroyed,  but  in  June, 
1843,  there  were  still  $684,521  out. 

This  is  certainly  a  melancholy  story  of  the  way  in  which 
people  who  enjoy  the  most  exceptional  chances  of  wealth 
and  prosperity  can  squander  them  by  ignorance  of  political 
economy  and  recklessness  in  political  management.  Banks 
were  regarded  as  means  of  borrowing  capital,  not  as  insti- 
tutions for  lending  it.  If  there  was  anywhere  a  group 
of  needy  speculators,  they  secured  a  bank  charter,  elected 
themselves  directors,  gave  their  notes  for  the  stock,  printed 
a  lot  of  bank  notes,  loaned  the  notes  to  themselves,  and 


394     THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

went  out  and  with  the  notes  bought  the  capital  they 
wanted.  Bank  after  bank  failed  with  an  immense  cir- 
culation afloat  and  no  assets  but  the  notes  of  its  directors, 
who  had  failed  too.  When  the  United  States  had  thirty 
or  forty  millions  surplus  on  hand  and  these  banks  could  get 
the  custody  and  handling  of  it  for  an  indefinite  period, 
because  the  country  had  no  need  for  it,  it  can  readily  be 
understood  why  banks  multiplied.  The  banks  were  en- 
couraged to  lend  this  deposit  freely  to  the  public,  which  they 
were  by  no  means  loath  to  do,  for  that  was  the  only  way 
to  gain  a  profit  on  it.  They  lent  it,  not  once  but  two  or 
three  times  over.  The  New  York  bank  commissioners 
pointed  out  the  danger  of  a  system  in  which  the  borrower 
came  directly  into  contact  with  the  bank  which  issued  the 
currency.  If  a  man  was  eager  to  borrow  and  pay  high  in- 
terest and  the  bank  had  only  to  print  the  notes  to  accom- 
modate him,  there  was  every  stimulus  to  over-issue.  If 
the  borrower  engaged  in  any  enterprise  he  raised  the  price 
of  everything  he  bought.  When  he  became  engaged  in 
his  enterprise  and  wanted  more  capital,  he  went  back  to  the 
bank  more  eager  and  more  ready  to  pay  high  interest  than 
ever,  and  the  operation  was  repeated.  In  1836,  on  the  top 
of  the  inflation,  the  rates  for  money  were  twelve  and  fif- 
teen per  cent  throughout  the  year,  with  a  very  tight  money 
market.  The  banks  and  the  business  community  could  not 
throw  the  blame  on  each  other.  They  stimulated  each  other 
and  went  on  in  their  folly  hand  in  hand.  The  penalties, 
however,  were  not  fairly  distributed.  The  banks  "sus- 
pended," as  they  called  it;  that  is,  when  asked  to  pay  their 
debts,  they  said  they  would  not;  and  they  enjoyed  a  com- 
plete immunity  in  this  respect,  while  people  outside  who 
could  not  pay  had  to  fail. 

I  have  tried,  within  the  limits  to  which  I  am  bound,  to 
show  how  many  elements  were  combined  in  this  period 
and  how  they  were  all  interwoven.     There  are  the  political 


THE  COMMERCIAL  CRISIS  OF   1837  395 

elements,  the  tariff  element,  the  movement  of  population 
to  the  new  land,  the  fiscal  operations  of  the  general  govern- 
ment, the  revolution  in  the  coinage,  the  mania  for  public 
improvements,  the  reckless  creation  of  state  debts,  and  the 
war  on  the  United  States  Bank.  Any  one  of  these  might 
have  accounted  for  a  financial  crisis  in  an  old  country, 
and  the  fact  that  the  catastrophe  produced  by  all  combined 
was  not  greater  here  is  a  striking  proof  of  the  vitality  of 
the  country  and  the  wonderful  advantages  which  it  was 
wasting. 

On  the  four  or  five  years  of  inflated  prosperity  there 
followed  four  or  five  years  of  the  most  slow  and  grinding 
distress.  1843  is  the  year  of  lowest  prices  in  our  history, 
and  the  year  of  severest  restriction  in  industry.  In  1842 
the  United  States  Treasury  was  under  protest  and  actually 
bankrupt,  and  American  credit  was  so  low  that  an  agent  of 
the  general  government  who  was  sent  to  Europe  to  try 
to  place  a  loan  of  only  twelve  million  dollars  there  could 
not  do  it  at  all.  In  that  same  year,  however,  out  of  what 
income  it  did  have,  the  general  government  distributed  six 
hundred  thousand  dollars,  which  came  from  land,  amongst 
the  states.  As  for  calling  back  any  of  the  twenty-eight 
millions  deposited  with  the  states,  no  effort  of  the  kind 
was  ever  made.  The  states  were  complaining  that  the 
fourth  installment,  to  which  they  had  a  right,  had  never 
been  paid  to  them.  The  question  is  sometimes  mooted 
whether  a  national  debt  is  a  curse  or  a  blessing.  There  can 
be  no  doubt  whatever  that  a  national  surplus  is  a  curse. 

In  the  years  before  1837  there  had  been  a  great  deal  of 
eloquence  spent  upon  "the  credit  system."  After  1837 
this  matter  was  dropped.  By  the  credit  system  they  meant 
the  multiplication  of  bank  notes  which  were  false  promises. 
The  notion  was  that  the  system  of  using  these  in  business 
gave  poor  men  an  easier  chance  to  get  rich.  At  first  they 
were  loaned  easily  at  low  rates.     Then,  as  prices  rose  and 


S96     THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

speculation  became  active,  interest  advanced.  The  "poor 
men"  found  themselves  forced  to  submit  to  more  and  more 
ruinous  renewals,  all  the  heavier  because  of  the  usury 
law,  until  they  lost  all  they  had  ever  really  owned.  The 
question,  then,  is  how  much  better  off  than  they  were  would 
the  poor  men  of  1830  have  been  in  1845  if  they  had  gone 
on  slowly  earning  and  saving  capital  and  making  no  use  of 
credit  at  all.  As  it  was,  the  poor  men  of  1830,  after  suppos- 
ing themselves  rich  in  1836,  were  all  bankrupt  in  1845. 
Such  is  the  course  of  every  inflation  of  the  currency.  It  is 
proved  by  hundreds  of  instances;  and  there  is  no  delusion 
which  it  seems  so  hard  to  stamp  out  of  the  minds  of  men  as 
this,  that  in  business  we  can  make  something  out  of  nothing, 
although  we  cannot  in  chemistry  or  mechanics.  Nothing 
more  surely  tempts  the  man  without  capital  to  his  ruin 
than  the  easy  credit  which  accompanies  the  first  stages  of 
inflation. 

It  is  worth  while  also  to  reflect  for  a  moment  on  the  results 
of  the  two  plans  for  dealing  with  the  crisis:  the  New  York 
plan  and  the  Philadelphia  plan.  "When  an  error  has  been 
committed  in  this  world,  we  always  have  to  bear  the  pen- 
alty for  it.  If  we  do  not  like  the  stripes  on  one  side  we  can 
turn  and  take  them  on  the  other,  but  when  nature  inflicts 
penalties  for  her  broken  laws  we  never  can  squirm  out 
of  the  way.  In  this  case,  then,  when  the  folly  had  been 
perpetrated  the  punishment  had  to  be  suffered.  The  only 
choice  was  whether  to  take  it  quick  and  heavy,  or  light 
and  long.  The  New  Yorkers  chose  the  former  way.  The 
contraction  was  severe  and  painful  while  it  lasted,  but  it 
was  soon  over.  From  May,  1838,  the  New  York  banks 
resumed  and  held  on  without  further  default  and  the  New 
Y^ork  business  recovered  and  entered  upon  a  new  course 
of  growth  from  that  time.  The  Philadelphians  took  the 
other  course.  They  made  it  easy  for  the  debtors  and  waited 
for  the  storm  to  blow  over.     The  consequence  was  that  the 


THE  COMMERCIAL  CRISIS  OF   1837  397 

debts  increased  still  further.  The  advantage  in  trade  over 
New  York  proved  shortlived  and  terribly  expensive,  for 
the  goods  were  not  paid  for.  The  confusion  and  distress 
lasted  for  four  years  longer  than  in  New  York,  and  the 
total  loss  was  very  much  greater.  For  the  last  five  years 
we  have  been  under  the  same  necessity  as  that  which 
oppressed  the  country  in  1837.  We  have  been  following 
the  Philadelphia  plan  and  I  may  give  you  my  opinion  that 
we  have  not  been  wise.  I  think  that  we  might  have  es- 
caped three  years  ago  with  far  less  loss,  and  might  have 
been  three  years  further  on  the  road  to  new  prosperity. 

In  conclusion  let  me  draw  your  attention  to  the  lesson 
of  this  history  in  regard  to  resumption.  There  was  no 
resumption,  you  see,  until  the  currency  had  been  reduced  to 
the  limits  of  the  actual  specie  necessity  of  the  country  or 
even  below  it.  Either  voluntarily  or  by  bankruptcy  the 
redundant  paper  had  to  be  withdrawn.  Such  has  been 
the  case  in  every  other  instance  of  resumption  that  I  know 
of,  which  has  been  real  and  permanent.  Applying  this  to 
our  own  present  circumstances  I  ask  myself  whether  the 
amount  of  paper  now  in  circulation  is  in  excess  of  the  re- 
quirement of  the  country,  and  there  seems  to  me  every 
reason  to  believe  that  it  is.  If  that  is  so,  resumption 
cannot  be  real  and  permanent  until  a  portion  of  it  has 
been  redeemed  and  withdrawn.  The  interest  in  resumption 
of  the  great  body  of  industrious,  sober,  and  thrifty  citizens 
cannot  be  exaggerated.  Renewed  prosperity  on  a  solid 
basis  is  impossible  until  after  a  complete  return  to  specie 
value.  There  are  those,  however,  who  want  to  live  by 
anything  but  honest  labor,  who  find  their  best  chance 
when  prices  are  fluctuating  and  currency  is  continually 
changing  in  value.  They  have  schemes  and  interests 
which  resumption  must  destroy.  They  have  done  all 
they  could  to  make  it  fail  and  they  are  watchful  and  eager 
to  see  it  fail.     If  it  does  fail  it  will  be  a  great  national 


398     THE   FORGOTTEN   MAN   AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

calamity,  on  account  of  the  authority  which  it  will  offer 
to  these  prophets  of  evil  if  for  no  other  reason.  Resump- 
tion with  us  now  stands  at  just  that  point  where  the 
lightest  preponderance  of  force  may  turn  it  one  way  or  the 
other  —  may  insure  its  success  or  cause  its  failure.  It  is 
a  great  gain  to  get  our  faces  set  in  the  right  direction.  It 
arouses  the  national  pride  in  the  success  of  resumption. 
It  silences  opposition  and  malevolent  efforts  against  it. 
It  makes  it  very  much  easier  to  take  the  requisite  steps 
to  insure  success,  for  they  involve  no  pain  at  all,  nothing 
but  economy  and  prudence  in  the  national  finances;  the 
avoidance  of  unnecessary  expenditure  and  the  postpone- 
ment for  a  time  of  certain  expenditures  proper  in  them- 
selves. If  the  country  needs  six  hundred  million  dollars 
to  do  its  business  with,  then  the  withdrawal  of  a  portion 
of  the  paper  would  simply  bring  gold  into  circulation,  and 
resumption  would  be  placed  beyond  a  doubt.  If  the 
country  does  not  want  six  hundred  million  dollars  to  do 
its  business  with,  then  we  cannot  sustain  specie  payments 
with  that  amount  afloat,  and  we  have  still  before  us  more 
of  the  experience  of  1842  and  1843. 


THE   SCIENCE  OF  SOCIOLOGY 


THE   SCIENCE   OF  SOCIOLOGY' 

IN  the  present  state  of  the  science  of  sociology  the  man 
who  has  studied  it  at  all  is  very  sure  to  feel  great  self- 
distrust  in  trying  to  talk  about  it.  The  most  that  one  of 
us  can  do  at  the  present  time  is  to  appreciate  the  promise 
which  the  science  offers  to  us,  and  to  understand  the  lines 
of  direction  in  which  it  seems  about  to  open  out.  As  for 
the  philosophy  of  the  subject,  we  still  need  the  master  to 
show  us  how  to  handle  and  apply  its  most  fundamental 
doctrines.  I  have  the  feeling  all  the  time,  in  studying  and 
teaching  sociology,  that  I  have  not  mastered  it  yet  in  such 
a  way  as  to  be  able  to  proceed  in  it  with  good  confidence 
in  my  own  steps,  I  have  only  got  so  far  as  to  have  an 
almost  overpowering  conviction  of  the  necessity  and  value 
of  the  study  of  that  science. 

Mr.  Spencer  addressed  himself  at  the  outset  of  his  lit- 
erary career  to  topics  of  sociology.  In  the  pursuit  of  those 
topics  he  found  himself  forced  (as  I  understand  it)  to  seek 
constantly  more  fundamental  and  wider  philosophical 
doctrines.  He  came  at  last  to  fundamental  principles  of 
the  evolution  philosophy.  He  then  extended,  tested,  con- 
firmed, and  corrected  these  principles  by  inductions  from 
other  sciences,  and  so  finally  turned  again  to  sociology, 
armed  with  the  scientific  method  which  he  had  acquired. 
To  win  a  powerful  and  correct  method  is,  as  we  all  know, 
to  win  more  than  half  the  battle.  ^Mien  so  much  is  se- 
cured, the  question  of  making  the  discoveries,  solving  the 
problems,  eliminating  the  errors,  and  testing  the  results, 
is  only  a  question  of  time  and  of  strength  to  collect  and 
master  the  data. 

^  Speech  at  the  Farewell  Banquet  to  Herbert  Spencer,  held  November  9,  1882. 

401 


402    THE  FORGOTTEN   MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

We  have  now  acquired  the  method  of  studying  sociology 
scientifically  so  as  to  attain  to  assured  results.  We  have 
acquired  it  none  too  soon.  The  need  for  a  science  of  life 
in  society  is  urgent,  and  it  is  increasing  every  year.  It  is 
a  fact  which  is  generally  overlooked  that  the  great  advance 
in  the  sciences  and  the  arts  which  has  taken  place  during 
the  last  century  is  producing  social  consequences  and  giv- 
ing rise  to  social  problems.  We  are  accustomed  to  dwell 
upon  the  discoveries  of  science  and  the  development  of 
the  arts  as  simple  incidents,  complete  in  themselves,  which 
oflter  only  grounds  for  congratulation.  But  the  steps 
which  have  been  won  are  by  no  means  simple  events. 
Each  one  has  consequences  which  reach  beyond  the  domain 
of  physical  power  into  social  and  moral  relations,  and  these 
effects  are  multiplied  and  reproduced  by  combination  with 
each  other.  The  great  discoveries  and  inventions  redis- 
tribute population.  They  reconstruct  industries  and  force 
new  organization  of  commerce  and  finance.  They  bring 
new  employments  into  existence  and  render  other  employ- 
ments obsolete,  while  they  change  the  relative  value  of 
many  others.  They  overthrow  the  old  order  of  society, 
impoverishing  some  classes  and  enriching  others.  They 
render  old  political  traditions  grotesque  and  ridiculous,  and 
make  old  maxims  of  statecraft  null  and  empty.  They 
give  old  vices  of  human  nature  a  chance  to  parade  in  new 
masks,  so  that  it  demands  new  skill  to  detect  the  same  old 
foes.  They  produce  a  kind  of  social  chaos  in  which  con- 
tradictory social  and  economic  phenomena  appear  side  by 
side  to  bewilder  and  deceive  the  student  who  is  not  fully 
armed  to  deal  with  them.  New  interests  are  brought  into 
existence,  and  new  faiths,  ideas,  and  hopes,  are  engendered 
in  the  minds  of  men.  Some  of  these  are  doubtless  good 
and  sound;  others  are  delusive;  in  every  case  a  competent 
criticism  is  of  the  first  necessity.  In  the  upheaval  of  society 
which  is  going  on,  classes  and  groups  are  thrown  against 


THE   SCIENCE  OF  SOCIOLOGY  403 

each  other  in  such  a  way  as  to  produce  class  hatreds  and 
hostilities.  As  the  old  national  jealousies,  which  used  to 
be  the  lines  on  which  war  was  waged,  lose  their  distinctness, 
class  jealousies  threaten  to  take  their  place.  Political  and 
social  events  which  occur  on  one  side  of  the  globe  now 
affect  the  interests  of  population  on  the  other  side  of  the 
globe.  Forces  which  come  into  action  in  one  part  of  hu- 
man society  rest  not  until  they  have  reached  all  human 
society.  The  brotherhood  of  man  is  coming  to  be  a  real- 
ity of  such  distinct  and  positive  character  that  we  find  it 
a  practical  question  of  the  greatest  moment  what  kind  of 
creatures  some  of  these  hitherto  neglected  brethren  are. 
Secondary  and  remoter  effects  of  industrial  changes,  which 
were  formerly  dissipated  and  lost  in  the  delay  and  friction 
of  communication,  are  now,  by  our  prompt  and  delicate 
mechanism  of  communication,  caught  up  and  transmitted 
through  society. 

It  is  plain  that  our  social  science  is  not  on  the  level  of 
the  tasks  which  are  thrown  upon  it  by  the  vast  and  sudden 
changes  in  the  whole  mechanism  by  which  man  makes  the 
resources  of  the  globe  available  to  satisfy  his  needs,  and 
by  the  new  ideas  which  are  born  of  the  new  aspects  which 
human  life  bears  to  our  eyes  in  consequence  of  the  develop- 
ment of  science  and  the  arts.  Our  traditions  about  the 
science  and  art  of  living  are  plainly  inadequate.  They 
break  to  pieces  in  our  hands  when  w^e  try  to  apply  them 
to  the  new  cases.  A  man  of  good  faith  may  come  to  the 
conviction  sadly,  but  he  must  come  to  the  conviction 
honestly,  that  the  traditional  doctrines  and  explanations 
of  human  life  are  worthless. 

A  progress  which  is  not  symmetrical  is  not  true;  that 
is  to  say,  every  branch  of  human  interest  must  be  devel- 
oped proportionately  to  all  the  other  branches,  else  the 
one  which  remains  in  arrears  will  measure  the  advance 
which  may  be   won   by  the   whole.     If,  then,  we   cannot 


404     THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

produce  a  science  of  life  in  society  which  is  broad  enough 
to  solve  all  the  new  social  problems  which  are  now  forced 
upon  us  by  the  development  of  science  and  art,  we  shall 
find  that  the  achievements  of  science  and  art  will  be  over- 
whelmed by  social  reactions  and  convulsions. 

We  do  not  lack  for  attempts  of  one  kind  and  another 
to  satisfy  the  need  which  I  have  described.  Our  discus- 
sion is  in  excess  of  our  deliberation,  and  our  deliberation 
is  in  excess  of  our  information.  Our  journals,  platforms, 
pulpits,  and  parliaments  are  full  of  talldng  and  writing 
about  topics  of  sociology.  The  only  result,  however,  of 
all  this  discussion  is  to  show  that  there  are  half  a  dozen 
arbitrary  codes  of  morals,  a  heterogeneous  tangle  of  eco- 
nomic doctrines,  a  score  of  religious  creeds  and  ecclesias- 
tical traditions,  and  a  confused  jumble  of  humanitarian 
and  sentimental  notions  which  jostle  each  other  in  the 
brains  of  the  men  of  this  generation.  It  is  astonishing  to 
watch  a  discussion  and  to  see  how  a  disputant,  starting 
from  a  given  point  of  view,  will  run  along  on  one  line  of 
thought  until  he  encounters  some  fragment  of  another 
code  or  doctrine,  which  he  has  derived  from  some  other 
source  of  education;  whereupon  he  turns  at  an  angle,  and 
goes  on  in  a  new  course  until  he  finds  himself  face  to  face 
with  another  of  his  old  prepossessions.  What  we  need  is 
adequate  criteria  by  which  to  make  the  necessary  tests 
and  classifications,  and  appropriate  canons  of  procedure, 
or  the  adaptation  of  universal  canons  to  the  special  tasks 
of  sociology. 

Unquestionably  it  is  to  the  great  philosophy  which 
has  now  been  established  by  such  ample  induction  in  the 
experimental  sciences,  and  which  offers  to  man  such  new 
command  of  all  the  relations  of  life,  that  we  must  look 
for  the  establishment  of  the  guiding  lines  in  the  study  of 
sociology.  I  can  see  no  boundaries  to  the  scope  of  the 
philosophy  of  evolution.     That  philosophy  is  sure  to  em- 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  SOCIOLOGY  405 

brace  all  the  interests  of  man  on  this  earth.  It  will  be 
one  of  its  crowning  triumphs  to  bring  light  and  order  into 
the  social  problems  which  are  of  universal  bearing  on  all 
mankind.  Mr.  Spencer  is  breaking  the  path  for  us  into 
this  domain.  We  stand  eager  to  follow  him  into  it,  and 
we  look  upon  his  work  on  sociology  as  a  grand  step  in  the 
history  of  science.  When,  therefore,  we  express  our  earnest 
hope  that  Mr.  Spencer  may  have  health  and  strength  to 
bring  his  work  to  a  speedy  conclusion,  we  not  only  express 
our  personal  respect  and  good-will  for  himself,  but  also 
our  sympathy  with  what,  I  doubt  not,  is  the  warmest  wish 
of  his  own  heart,  and  our  appreciation  of  his  great  services 
to  true  science  and  to  the  welfare  of  mankind. 


INTEGRITY  IN  EDUCATION 


INTEGRITY  IN  EDUCATION^ 

IN  addressing  you  on  the  present  occasion,  I  am  naturally 
led  to  speak  of  matters  connected  with  education.  We 
are  met  here  amid  surroundings  which,  to  the  great  ma- 
jority of  us,  are  unfamiliar,  but  we  are  assembled  in  the 
atmosphere  of  our  school  days  and  under  the  inspiration 
of  school  memories.  Some  of  us  are  rapidly  approaching, 
if  we  have  not  already  reached,  the  time  when  our  interest 
in  education  re-arises  in  behalf  of  the  next  generation. 
Many  are  engaged  in  the  work  of  teaching.  Others  have 
only  just  finished  a  stage  in  their  education.  I  therefore 
propose  to  speak  for  a  few  minutes  about  integrity  in  edu- 
cation, believing  that  it  is  a  subject  of  great  importance 
at  the  present  time,  and  one  which  may  justly  command 
your  interest. 

By  integrity  in  education,  I  mean  the  opposite  of  all 
sensationalism  and  humbug  in  education.  I  would  in- 
clude under  it  as  objects  to  be  aimed  at  in  education,  not 
only  the  pursuit  of  genuine  and  accurate  information  and 
wide  knowledge  of  some  technical  branch  of  study,  but 
also  real  discipline  in  the  use  of  mental  powers,  sterling 
character,  good  manners,  and  high  breeding. 

Modern  sensationalism  is  conquering  a  wide  field  for 
itself.  It  is  a  sort  of  parasite  on  high  civilization.  Its 
motto  is  that  seeming  is  as  good  as  being.  Its  intrinsic 
fault  is  its  hollowness,  insincerity,  and  falsehood.  It  deals 
in  dash,  flourish,  and  meretricious  pretense.  It  resides  in 
the  form,  not  in  the  substance;  in  the  outward  appearance, 
not  in  the  reality.     It  arouses  disgust  whenever  it  is  per- 

*  Address  delivered  in  Hartford. 

409 


410     THE  FORGOTTEN   MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

ceived;  but  the  worst  of  it  is  that  its  forms  are  so  various, 
its  manifestations  are  sometimes  so  dehcate,  and  it  often 
Hes  so  near  to  the  real  and  the  true,  that  is  it  difficult  to 
distinguish  it.  Life  hurries  past  us  very  rapidly.  The 
interests  which  demand  our  attention  are  very  numerous 
and  important.  We  have  not  time  to  scrutinize  them  all. 
Then,  too,  the  publicity  of  everything  nowadays  prevents 
modest  retirement  from  being  a  sign  of  merit.  We  go  on 
the  principle  that  if  anything  is  good,  it  is  for  the  public. 
Publicity  is  honorable  and  proper  recognition,  and  those 
who  have  charge  of  the  public  trumpets  have  not  time,  if 
they  have  the  ability,  to  discriminate  and  criticize  very 
closely. 

These  reflections  account  suflSciently  for  the  growth  of 
sensationalism  in  general.  Probably  each  one  sees  the 
mischief  which  it  does  in  his  own  circle  or  profession  more 
distinctly  than  elsewhere.  I  have  certainly  been  struck 
by  its  influence  on  education.  I  see  it  in  common-school 
education  as  well  as  in  the  universities.  It  attaches  to 
methods  as  well  as  to  subjects.  It  develops  a  dogmatism 
of  its  own.  Men  without  education,  or  experience  as 
teachers,  often  take  up  the  pitiful  role  of  another  class 
which  has  come  to  be  called  "educators."  They  start  off 
with  a  whim  or  two  which  they  elaborate  into  theories  of 
education.  These  they  propound  with  great  gravity  in 
speech  and  writing,  producing  long  discussions  as  to  plans 
and  methods.  They  are  continually  searching  for  a  patent 
method  of  teaching,  or  a  royal  road  to  learning,  when,  in 
fact,  the  only  way  to  learn  is  by  the  labor  of  the  mind  in 
observing,  comparing,  and  generalizing,  and  any  patent 
method  which  avoids  this  irksome  labor  produces  sham 
results  and  fails  of  producing  the  mental  power  and  dis- 
cipline of  which  education  consists. 

Persons  of  this  class  are  generally  impatient  until  they 
have  attained  some  opportunity  of  putting  their  notions 


INTEGRITY  IN  EDUCATION  411 

in  practice,  and   then   it  is   all   over   with  any  institution 
which  becomes  subject  to  their  wild  empiricism. 

r^piU   o^IJi    :  deStUlsed.  is  a  co.pa.ative.y 

In  aff-lir      The  real  mischief  is  that  men  should  be  pro- 

r     1   who' have  no  real  education,  but  only  a  perverse 

duced  who  have  no  re  ^^^    meretricious 

irifanes/ Such  education 'falls  in  with  the  outward 
nhenomena  of  a  sensational  era  and  strengthens  the  .m- 
Sssrnswhieb  a  young  and  --P-ienced  t^- J^f 

Lm  our  modern  -f  ^^^  „^^t  ^fo  J' ~e  ^^^^^^^^^^^ 
talents  that  success  or  tailure  is  me  uui^ 
^  wron-  that  the  man  to  be  admired  is  the  one  who  m- 
venT  cWer  tricks  to  circumvent  a  rival  or  opponent,  or 
losLp  over  a  troublesome  principle.  Young  people  are 
mortacute  in  their  observations,  and  ^W  ^--^^^^^^ 
and  form  generalizations  more  logically  and  consistently 

nf  life  either  of  one  kind  or  another.     H,  theretore,  jou 
have  an  educational  system  consisting  oHormal  cram  fo 
recitation  or  examination,  it  there  is  a  skimmmg  of  text 
booS    an   empty   acquisition  of  terms,   a  memorizing  o 
resut  only,  you  may  pursue  high-sounding  studies  and 
"cover  a  great  deal  of  ground,"  you  may  have  an  elab- 
orate curriculum  and  boast  of  your  proficiency  in  difficuR 
branches,   but   you   will   have   -   educatior.  J  ou   may 
nroduce   men   who   can   spend   a  lifetime   dawdling   over 
Tfies    or  men  who  always  scatter  their  force  when  they 
t  y  to  think,  but  you  will  not  have  intelligent  men  with 
nids   well-disciplined    and  well    under  control,   who  are 
Te  to  apply  their  full  force  to  any  new  exigency,  or  any 
new  problem,  and  to  grasp  and  conquer  it. 


412     THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

The  fault  here  is  plain  enough.  People  forget,  or  do  not 
perceive,  that  simplicity  and  modesty  are  the  first  requisites 
in  scientific  pursuits.  We  have  to  begin  humbly  and  with 
small  beginnings  if  we  want  to  go  far.  Inflation  and  pre- 
tense only  lead  to  vanity  and  dilletantism,  not  to  strength 
and  fruitful  activity.  If  we  advance  eagerly,  we  deceive 
ourselves  by  the  notion  that  we  are  making  grand  progress. 
We  are  only  leaving  much  undone  which  we  shall  have  to 
go  back  and  repair.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  we  proceed 
slowly  and  with  painstaking,  every  step  of  advance  is  sure 
and  genuine.  It  forms  a  great  vantage-ground  for  the 
next  step.  It  strengthens  and  confirms  the  mental  powers. 
They  come  to  act  with  certainty  by  scientific  processes, 
not  by  guesses,  and  this  mental  discipline  enables  us  to 
apply  our  powers  wherever  we  need  them.  A  new  task 
is  not  a  dead  wall  which  is  impassable  to  us  because  we  have 
never  seen  one  like  it  before.  It  is  only  a  new  case  for  the 
application  of  old  and  familiar  processes.  I  never  see  any- 
thing more  pitiable  than  the  helpless  floundering  in  a  new 
subject  of  a  young  man  far  on  in  his  education  who  has 
never  yet  learned  to  use  his  mind. 

In  what  I  have  already  said  about  the  philosophy  of  life 
which  a  young  person  forms  during  the  process  of  educa- 
tion, I  have  suggested  that  education  must  exert  a  great 
influence  on  character.  It  is  sometimes  asserted  that 
education  ought  to  mold  character  —  ought  to  have  that 
object  and  work  towards  it,  of  set  purpose.  I  do  not  deny 
this,  but  I  beg  you  to  observe  that  it  obscures  the  truth. 
The  truth  is  that  education  inevitably  forms  character  one 
way  or  the  other.  The  error  is  in  speaking  as  if  academical 
instruction  could  be  carried  on  without  training  character, 
unless  the  set  purpose  were  entertained.  One  might  read 
many  books  on  mathematics  and  the  sciences  without  any 
very  direct  moral  culture,  but  everything  we  learn  about 
this  world  in  which  we  live  reacts  in  some  sort  of  principle 


INTEGRITY  IN  EDUCATION  413 

for  the  regulation  of  our  conduct  here.  This,  however,  is 
not  the  most  important  thing.  A  school  is  a  miniature 
society.  Do  we  not  all  know  how  it  forms  an  atmosphere 
of  its  own,  how  the  members  make  a  code  of  their  own, 
and  a  public  opinion  of  their  own?  And  then,  what  a 
position  the  teacher  holds  in  this  little  community.  What 
a  dangerous  and  responsible  eminence  he  occupies.  What 
criticism  he  undergoes.  What  an  authority  his  example 
exerts.  So,  in  this  little  society,  general  notions  of  con- 
duct are  unconsciously  formed,  principles  are  adopted, 
habits  grow.  Every  member  in  his  place  gives  to,  and  takes 
from,  the  common  life.  It  may  be  well  doubted  whether 
there  is  any  association  of  life  which  exerts  greater  influence 
on  character  than  does  the  school,  and  its  influence  comes, 
too,  just  as  the  formative  period,  when  impressions  are 
most  easily  received  and  sink  deepest. 

Here  then  is  where  sensationalism  may  do  its  greatest 
harm,  and  where  integrity  of  method  is  most  important. 
The  untruthfulness  of  sensationalism  here  becomes  a  germi- 
nal principle,  which  develops  into  manifold  forms  of  un- 
truthfulness in  character.  Young  people  cannot  practice 
show  and  pretense  and  yet  be  taught  to  believe  that  the 
only  important  thing  is  what  you  are,  and  not  at  all  what 
people  think  about  you.  They  cannot  practice  the  devices 
which  give  a  semblance  of  learning,  and  yet  be  taught  to 
believe  that  shams  are  disgraceful  and  that  the  frank 
honesty  which  owns  the  worst  is  a  noble  trait.  They  may 
learn  to  be  ashamed  when  caught  in  a  false  pretense,  but 
they  will  not  learn  shame  at  deceit.  I  do  not  say  that 
they  will  lie  or  steal,  but  it  is  a  pitiful  code  which  defines 
honesty  as  refraining  from  seizing  other  people's  property. 
Honesty  is  a  far  wider  virtue  than  not-stealing.  It  em- 
braces rectitude  of  motive  and  purpose,  completeness  and 
consistency  of  principle,  and  delicacy  of  responsibility. 
Truthfulness  is  the  very  cornerstone  of  character,  and  an 


414     THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

instinct  of  dislike  for  whatever  is  false  or  meretricious  is 
one  of  the  feelings  which  all  sound  education  must  incul- 
cate. It  cannot  do  so,  however,  unless  its  personnel  and 
its  methods  are  all  animated  by  unflinching  integrity. 

I  mentioned  also,  at  the  outset,  amongst  those  things 
which  are  embraced  in  education  and  to  which  I  desire  to 
see  the  principle  of  integrity  applied,  good  manners.  Some 
people  make  an  ostentatious  display  of  neglect  for  good 
manners.  They  think  it  democratic,  or  a  sign  of  good 
fellowship,  to  be  negligent  in  this  respect.  They  think  it 
something  to  be  boasted  of  that  they  have  no  breeding. 
Some  others  make  manners  supersede  education  and 
training  and  even  character.  It  is  the  latter  error  which 
most  invades  the  sphere  of  education.  We  are  familiar 
with  its  forms.  It  gives  us  the  mock  gentleman  of  the 
drawing-room  under  the  same  coat  with  the  rowdy  of  the 
bar-room.  \Mien  this  system  triumphs,  it  fits  our  young 
people  out  with  a  few  fashionable  phrases,  which  suffice  for 
the  persiflage  of  the  drawing-room,  when  a  scientific  sub- 
ject by  chance  comes  up.  Girls  are  the  victims  of  this 
system  far  more  than  boys,  but  in  "cultivated  circles" 
cases  are  common  of  this  kind,  in  which  a  smattering  of 
books  has  been  engrafted  on  the  culture  of  the  dancing 
school.  Young  men  and  young  women  who  have  tacked 
together  a  few  miscellaneous  phrases  current  amongst  the 
learned  will  deliver  you  their  opinions  roundly  on  the 
gravest  problems  of  philosophy  and  science.  The  phrases 
which  stick  in  their  minds  the  longest  are  those  which 
are  epigrammatic  and  paradoxical,  whether  true  or  not. 
In  fact,  they  could  not  analyze  or  criticize  their  mental 
stock  if  they  should  try.  They  have  never  learned  to  con- 
sider a  subject  and  form  an  opinion. 

It  does  not  follow,  however,  that  boorishness  is  erudi- 
tion, or  that  it  does  not  belong  to  education  to  teach  the 
good  manners  which  are  good  simply  because  they  are  the 


INTEGRITY  IN  EDUCATION  415 

spontaneous  expression  of  a  sound  heart  and  a  well-trained 
mind.  Envy,  malice,  and  selfishness  are  the  usual  springs 
of  bad  manners.  They  belong  to  the  untrained  and  brut- 
ish man,  and  it  is  the  province  of  true  education  to  eradi- 
cate them.  Hence  it  is  that  where  true  education  is 
wanting  we  may  often  find  the  worst  manners  with  the 
greatest  social  experience,  and  the  truest  courtesy  where 
there  has  been  genuine  discipline,  but  little  acquaintance 
with  social  forms. 

I  have  not  started  this  train  of  thought  in  order  to  tell 
you  now  that  we  have  enjoyed  the  true  method  of  educa- 
tion, and  that  others  have  not,  but  there  are  some  things 
connected  with  this  institution  which  we  may  remember 
with  pleasure  in  view  of  the  reflections  which  I  have 
presented. 

This  school  was  founded  so  long  ago  that  it  already  has 
a  body  of  graduates  who  are  useful  and  influential  men  in 
this  city,  and  many  others  are  scattered  up  and  down  the 
country,  useful  and  honorable,  if  not  celebrated  citizens. 
It  was  not  founded  without  some  struggle,  but  the  more 
enlightened  views  prevailed  and  the  results  have  vindi- 
cated those  views,  I  suppose  to  the  satisfaction  of  every- 
body. The  enterprise  enjoyed  at  the  outset  the  patronage 
of  a  body  of  men  of  remarkably  broad  views  and  sound 
public  spirit.  We  who  profited  by  its  instruction  in  our 
time  may  properly  remember  those  men  on  this  occasion 
with  gratitude  and  respect.  One  of  them,  surpassed  by 
none  in  zeal  to  work  for  and  intelligence  to  plan  such  an 
institution,  has  only  just  passed  away.  Your  city  has  been 
fortunate  in  possessing  such  citizens. 

The  plan  on  which  the  school  was  founded  was  remark- 
ably wise  and  farseeing.  It  has  placed  the  highest  educa- 
tion within  the  reach  of  every  boy  in  your  city  who  had 
sufiicient  industry  and  self-denial  to  seek  it.  Many  of  you 
are  now  in  the  position  of  active  and  responsible  citizens. 


416    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

You  must  regard  this  institution  as  one  of  the  boasts  of 
your  city.  Guard  it  well.  You  may  not  boast  of  it  only. 
You  owe  it  a  debt  which  you  must  pay.  Every  boy  and 
girl  who  has  graduated  here  owes  a  debt  to  the  common 
school  system  of  America.  Every  man  for  whom  this 
school  has  opened  a  career  which  would  otherwise  have 
been  beyond  his  reach,  owes  a  tenfold  debt,  both  to  the 
common  school  system  and  to  the  class  in  which  he  was 
born.  Sectarian  interests,  private  school  interests,  prop- 
erty interests,  and  some  cliques  of  "culture"  falsely  so 
called,  are  rallying  against  the  system  a  force  which  people 
as  yet  underrate.  There  is  no  knowing  how  soon  the 
struggle  may  open,  and  you  may  be  called  upon  to  pay  the 
allegiance  you  owe. 

This  school  has  also  been  remarkably  fortunate  in  the 
selection  of  the  teachers  who  have  presided  over  it.  We 
cannot  exaggerate  the  value  of  this  selection.  It  is  by  the 
imperceptible  influence  of  the  teacher's  character  and  ex- 
ample that  the  atmosphere  of  a  school  is  created.  It  is 
from  this  that  the  pupils  learn  what  to  admire  and  what 
to  abhor,  what  to  seek  and  what  to  shun.  It  is  from  this 
that  they  learn  what  methods  of  action  are  honorable  and 
what  ones  are  unbecoming.  They  learn  all  this  from 
methods  of  discipline  as  well  as  from  methods  of  instruc- 
tion. They  may  learn  craft  and  intrigue,  or  they  may 
learn  candor  and  sincerity.  They  may  learn  to  win  suc- 
cess at  any  cost,  or  they  may  learn  to  accept  failure  with 
dignity,  when  success  could  only  be  won  by  dishonor. 

Y^ou  know  well  what  has  always  been  the  tone  impressed 
on  this  institution  by  the  teachers  we  had  here.  We  had 
many,  both  gentlemen  and  ladies,  whom  we  remember 
with  respect  and  affection.  Our  later  experience  of  the 
world  and  of  life  has  only  served  to  show  us  more  dis- 
tinctly, in  the  retrospect,  how  elevated  was  their  tone, 
how  sincere  their  devotion,  how  simple  and  upright   their 


INTEGRITY  IN  EDUCATION  *" 

methods  of  dealing  with  us.    They  were  not  taskmasters 
To  us.  and  their  work  was  not  a  harsh  and  ungrateful  rou- 

"  One"  figre' will  inevitably  arise  before  the  minds  of  all 
when  these  words  are  said,  the  figure  of  one  who  died  with 
the  harness  on.    I  have  never  seen  anywhere,  in  my  ex- 
perience,  a  man  of  more  simple  and  unconscious  high- 
breeding   one  who  combined  more  thoroughly  the  dignity 
of  official  authority  with  the  suavity  of  unrestrained  inter- 
course with  his  pupils.     It  is  a  part  of  the  good  fortune 
Xh  came  to  us  and  to  this  city  from  this  institution  that 
To  many  young  people  here  enjoyed  his  persona   influence. 
iTfoflows.  as  a  natural  consequence,  from  these  facts 
that  we  enjoyed  here  to  a  high  degree  what  I  have  described 
as  integrity  in  education.    Sensationalism  of  any  kmd  has 
U  'been  foreign  to  the  system  here.     It  must  perish 
in  such  an  atmosphere.    We  had  instruction  which  was  real 
and  solid,  which  conceded  nothing  to  show  and  sacrificed 
nothing  to  applause.    We  learned  to  work  patiently  for 
real   and   enduring   results.    We   learned   the   faith   that 
what  is  genuine  must  outlast  and  prevail  over  what  is 
meretricious.    We  learned  to  despise  empty  display^    We 
had  also  a  discipline  which  was  complete  and  sufiicient. 
but  which  was  attained  without  friction.    There  was  no 
sentimentaUty,  no  petting,  no  affectation  of  free  and  ea^y 
manners.    Discipline  existed  because  it  was  necessary,  and 
it  was  smooth  because  it  was  reasonable. 

Now  there  is  nothing  to  which  people  apply  more  severe 
criticism,  as  they  grow  old.  than  to  their  education.  They 
find  the  need  of  it  every  day,  and  they  have  to  ask  whether 
it  was  sufficient  and  suited  to  the  purpose  or  not.  it  is 
because  we  find,  I  think,  that  our  education  here  does 
stand  this  test  that  we  are  able  to  meet  here  on  an  occasion 
like  this  with  genuine  interest  and  sympathy.  The  years 
in  their  flight  have  sacttered  us  and  brought  us  weighty 


418     THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

cares  and  new  interests.  We  could  not  lay  these  aside  to 
come  back  here  for  purposes  of  mere  sentiment,  or  to  re- 
peat conventional  phrases.  We  meet  on  the  ground  of 
grateful  recollection  of  benefits  received,  benefits  which  we 
can  specify  and  weigh  and  measure. 

This  school  must  be  regarded  as  a  local  institution.  It 
belongs  to  this  city  and  its  advantages  are  offered  to  the 
young  people  who  grow  up  here.  I  have  referred  to  the 
exceptional  wisdom  and  enlightenment  which  presided  over 
its  foundation  and  have  nourished  its  growth.  In  con- 
clusion, let  me  refer  to  what  concerns  its  present  and  its 
future.  We  are  reminded  by  all  we  see  about  us  here  that 
its  building  and  its  appliances  are  far  better  than  they  were 
in  our  day.  Its  prosperity  bears  witness  to  its  present 
good  management.  But,  gentlemen,  these  good  things  are 
not  to  be  preserved  without  vigilance  and  labor.  The 
same  wisdom  and  enlightenment  must  preside  over  the 
future  as  over  the  past.  I  doubt  not  that  the  value  of  this 
institution  to  your  city  is  so  fully  appreciated,  and  the 
methods  by  which  it  has  been  developed  are  so  well  under- 
stood, that  any  peril  to  it  or  to  them  would  arouse  your 
earnest  efforts  for  its  defence.  Keep  it  as  it  has  been, 
devoted  to  correct  objects  by  sound  methods.  Sacrifice 
nothing  to  the  eclat  of  hasty  and  false  success.  Concede 
nothing  to  the  modern  quackery  of  education.  Resist  the 
specious  schemes  of  reckless  speculators  on  educational 
theories.  It  is  not  to  be  expected  that  you  can  escape  these 
dangers  any  more  than  other  people,  and  you  have  to  be 
on  your  guard  against  them.  You  want  here  an  educational 
institution  which  shall,  in  its  measure,  instruct  your  chil- 
dren in  the  best  science  and  thought  of  the  day.  You  want 
it  to  make  them  masters  of  themselves  and  of  their  powers. 
You  want  it  to  make  them  practical  in  the  best  and  only 
true  sense,  by  making  them  efiicient  in  dealing  intelli- 
gently with  all  the  problems  of  life.     The  country  needs 


INTEGRITY  IN  EDUCATION  419 

such  citizens  to-day.  The  state  needs  them.  Your  city 
needs  them.  They  are  needed  in  all  the  trades  and  pro- 
fessions. You  must  look  to  such  institutions  as  this  to 
provide  them,  and  you  must  keep  it  true  to  its  methods 
and  purpose  if  you  want  it  to  turn  out  men  of  moral  courage, 
high  principle,  and  devotion  to  duty. 


DISCIPLINE 


DISCIPLINE 

IT  occurs  very  frequently  to  a  person  connected  as  a 
teacher  with  a  great  seat  of  learning  to  meet  persons 
who,  having  completed  a  course  of  study  and  having  spent 
a  few  years  in  active  life,  are  led  to  make  certain  reflec- 
tions upon  their  academical  career.  There  is  a  great  uni- 
formity in  the  comments  which  are  thus  made,  so  far  as  I 
have  heard  them,  and  they  enforce  upon  me  certain  con- 
victions. I  observe  that  an  academical  life  is  led  in  a 
community  which  is  to  a  certain  extent  closed,  isolated, 
and  peculiar.  It  has  a  code  of  its  own  as  well  for  work  as 
for  morals.  It  forms  a  peculiar  standpoint,  and  life,  as 
viewed  from  it,  takes  on  peculiar  forms  and  peculiar  colors. 
It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  add  that  the  views  of  life  thus 
obtained  are  distorted  and  incorrect. 

I  should  not  expect  much  success  if  I  should  undertake 
to  correct  those  views  by  description  in  words.  It  is  only 
in  life  itself,  that  is,  by  experience,  that  men  correct  their 
errors.  They  insist  on  making  experience  for  themselves. 
They  delude  themselves  with  hopes  that  they  are  peculiar 
in  their  persons  and  characters,  or  that  their  circumstances 
are  peculiar,  and  so  that  in  some  way  or  other  they  can 
perpetrate  the  old  faults  and  yet  escape  the  old  penalties. 
It  is  only  when  life  is  spent  that  these  delusions  are  dis- 
pelled and  then  the  power  and  the  opportunity  to  put  the 
acquired  wisdom  to  practice  is  gone  by.  Thus  the  old 
continually  warn  and  preach  and  the  young  continually 
disregard  and  suffer. 

Although  I  could  not  expect  better  fortune  than  others 
if  I  should  thus  preach,  yet  there  are  some  things  which, 
as  I  have  often  been  led  to  think,  young  men  in  your  situa- 
tion might  be  brought  to  understand  with  great  practical 

423 


424     THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

advantage,  and  which,  if  you  did  understand  them,  and  act 
upon  them,  would  save  you  from  the  deepest  self-reproach 
and  regret  which  I  so  often  hear  older  men  express;  and 
the  present  occasion  seems  a  better  one  than  I  can  other- 
wise obtain,  for  presenting  those  things.  I  allude  to  some 
wider  explanations  of  the  meaning  and  purpose  of  aca- 
demical pursuits.  I  do  not  mean  theories  of  education 
about  which  people  dispute,  but  I  mean  the  purposes  which 
any  true  education  has  in  view,  and  the  responsibilities  it 
brings  with  it.  It  surely  is  not  advisable  that  men  of  your 
age  should  pursue  your  education  as  a  mere  matter  of 
routine,  learning  prescribed  lessons,  performing  enforced 
tasks,  resisting,  unintelligent,  and  uninterested.  Such  an 
experience  on  your  part  would  not  constitute  any  true 
education.  It  would  not  involve  any  development  of 
capability  in  you.  It  could  only  render  you  dull,  fond  of 
shirking,  slovenly  in  your  work,  and  superficial  in  your 
attainments.  Unless  I  am  greatly  mistaken,  some  counter- 
action to  such  a  low  and  unworthy  conception  of  academical 
life  may  be  secured  by  showing  its  relation  to  real  life,  and 
attaching  things  pursued  here  to  practical  and  enduring 
benefits.  I  have  known  men  to  get  those  benefits  with- 
out knowing  it;  and  I  believe  that  you  would  get  them 
better  if  you  got  them  intelligently,  and  that  you  would 
appreciate  them  better  if  you  got  them  consciously. 

In  the  first  place,  it  will  be  profitable  to  look  at  one  or 
two  notions  in  regard  to  the  purpose  of  education  which 
do  not  seem  to  be  sound.  One  is  that  it  is  the  purpose  of 
education  to  give  special  technical  skill  or  dexterity  and 
to  fit  a  man  to  get  a  living.  We  may  admit  at  once  that 
the  object  of  study  is  to  get  useful  knowledge.  It  was, 
indeed,  the  error  of  some  old  systems  of  academical  pur- 
suits that  they  gave  only  a  special  dexterity  and  that  too 
in  such  a  direction  as  the  making  of  Greek  and  Latin  verses, 
which  is  a  mere  accomplishment  and  not  a  very  good  one 


DISCIPLINE  425 

at  that.  It  must  be  ranged  with  dancing  and  fencing;  it 
is  not  as  high  as  drawing,  painting,  or  music.  There  is, 
moreover,  a  domain  in  which  special  technical  training  is 
proper.  It  is  the  domain  of  the  industrial  school,  for  giv- 
ing a  certain  theoretical  knowledge  of  persons  who  will  be 
engaged  for  life  in  the  mechanic  arts.  With  this  limita- 
tion, however,  we  have  at  once  given  to  us  the  bounds 
which  preclude  this  notion  from  covering  the  true  con- 
ception of  an  academic  career.  It  does  not  simply  provide 
technical  training  for  a  higher  class  of  arts  which  require 
longer  preparation.  You  know  that  this  conception  is 
widely  held  through  our  American  community,  and  that 
it  is  laid  down  with  great  dogmatic  severity  by  persons 
who  sometimes,  unfortunately,  are  in  a  position  to  turn 
their  opinions  into  law.  It  is  one  of  the  great  obstacles 
against  which  all  efforts  for  higher  education  amongst  us 
have  to  contend. 

I  pass  on,  however,  to  another  opinion  just  now  much 
more  fashionable  and  held  by  people  who  are,  at  any  rate, 
much  more  elegant  than  the  supporters  of  the  view  just 
mentioned,  that  is,  the  opinion  that  what  we  expect  from 
education  is  "culture."  Culture  is  a  word  which  offers 
us  an  illustration  of  the  degeneracy  of  language.  If  I  may 
define  culture,  I  have  no  objection  to  admitting  that  it  is 
the  purpose  of  education  to  produce  it;  but  since  the  word 
came  into  fashion,  it  has  been  stolen  by  the  dilettanti  and 
made  to  stand  for  their  own  favorite  forms  and  amounts 
of  attainments.  Mr.  Arnold,  the  great  apostle,  if  not  the 
discoverer,  of  culture,  tried  to  analyze  it  and  he  found  it  to 
consist  of  sweetness  and  light.  To  my  mind,  that  is  like 
saying  that  coffee  is  milk  and  sugar.  The  stuff  of  culture 
is  all  left  out  of  it.  So,  in  the  practice  of  those  who  accept 
this  notion,  culture  comes  to  represent  only  an  external 
smoothness  and  roundness  of  outline  without  regard  to 
intrinsic  qualities. 


426    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND   OTHER  ESSAYS 

We  have  got  so  far  now  as  to  begin  to  distinguish  dif- 
ferent kinds  of  culture.  There  is  chromo  culture,  of  which 
we  heard  much  a  little  while  ago,  and  there  is  bouffe  culture, 
which  is  only  just  invented.  If  I  were  in  the  way  of  it,  I 
should  like  to  add  another  class,  which  might  be  called 
sapolio  culture,  because  it  consists  in  putting  a  high  polish 
on  plated  ware.  There  seems  great  danger  lest  this  kind 
may  come  to  be  the  sort  aimed  at  by  those  who  regard 
culture  as  the  end  of  education. 

A  truer  idea  of  culture  is  that  which  regards  it  as  equiva- 
lent to  training,  or  the  result  of  training,  which  brings  into 
intelligent  activity  all  the  best  powers  of  mind  and  body. 
Such  a  culture  is  not  to  be  attained  by  writing  essays  about 
it,  or  by  forming  ever  so  clear  a  literary  statement  or 
mental  conception  of  what  it  is.  It  is  not  to  be  won  by 
wishing  for  it,  or  aping  the  external  manifestations  of  it. 
We  men  can  get  it  only  by  industrious  and  close  applica- 
tion of  the  powders  we  want  to  develop.  We  are  not  sure 
of  getting  it  by  reading  any  number  of  books.  It  requires 
continual  application  of  literary  acquisitions  to  practice 
and  it  requires  a  continual  correction  of  mental  concep- 
tions by  observation  of  things  as  they  are.  For  the  sake 
of  distinguishing  sharply  between  the  true  idea  of  culture 
and  the  false,  I  have  thought  it  better  to  call  the  true 
culture  discipline,  a  word  which  perhaps  brings  out  its 
essential  character  somewhat  better. 

Here  let  me  call  your  attention  to  one  very  broad  gener- 
alization on  human  life  which  men  continually  lose  sight 
of,  and  of  which  culture  is  an  illustration.  The  great  and 
heroic  things  which  strike  our  imagination  are  never  at- 
tainable by  direct  efforts.  This  is  true  of  wisdom,  glory, 
fame,  virtue,  culture,  public  good,  or  any  other  of  the  great 
ends  which  men  seek  to  attain.  We  cannot  reach  any  of 
these  things  by  direct  effort.  They  come  as  the  refined 
result,  in  a  secondary  and  remote  way,  of  thousands  of 


DISCIPLINE  427 

acts  which  have  another  and  closer  end  in  view.  If  a  man 
aims  at  wisdom  directly,  he  will  be  very  sure  to  make  an 
affectation  of  it.  He  will  attain  only  to  a  ridiculous  pro- 
fundity in  commonplaces.  Wisdom  is  the  result  of  great 
knowledge,  experience,  and  observation,  after  they  have 
all  been  sifted  and  refined  down  into  sober  caution,  trained 
judgment,  skill  in  adjusting  means  to  ends. 

In  like  manner,  one  who  aims  at  glory  or  fame  directly 
will  win  only  that  wretched  caricature  which  we  call  noto- 
riety. Glory  and  fame,  so  far  as  they  are  desirable  things, 
are  remote  results  which  come  of  themselves  at  the  end  of 
long  and  repeated  and  able  exertions. 

The  same  holds  true  of  the  public  good  or  the  "cause," 
or  whatever  else  we  ought  to  call  that  end  which  fires  the 
zeal  of  philanthropists  and  martyrs,  \^^len  this  is  pur- 
sued directly  as  an  immediate  good,  there  arise  extrava- 
gances, fanaticisms,  and  aberrations  of  all  kinds.  Strong 
actions  and  reactions  take  place  in  social  Hfe,  but  not 
orderly  growth  and  gain.  The  first  impression  no  doubt  is 
that  of  noble  zeal  and  self-sacrifice,  but  this  is  not  the  sort 
of  work  by  which  society  gains.  The  progress  of  society 
is  nothing  but  the  slow  and  far  remote  result  of  steady, 
laborious,  painstaking  growth  of  individuals.  The  man 
who  makes  the  most  of  himself  and  does  his  best  in  his 
sphere  is  doing  far  more  for  the  public  good  than  the  phil- 
anthropist who  runs  about  with  a  scheme  which  would  set 
the  world  straight  if  only  everybody  would  adopt  it. 

This  view  cuts  down  a  great  deal  of  the  heroism  which 
fills  such  a  large  part  of  our  poetry,  but  it  brings  us,  I 
think,  several  very  encouraging  reflections.  The  first  is 
that  one  does  not  need  to  be  a  hero  to  be  of  some  impor- 
tance in  the  world.  Heroes  are  gone  by.  We  want  now  a 
good  supply  of  eflScient  workaday  men,  to  stand  each  in 
his  place  and  do  good  work.  The  second  reflection  to  which 
we  are  led  is  that  we  do  not  need  to  be  straining  our  eyes 


428     THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

continually  to  the  horizon  to  see  where  we  are  coming  out, 
or,  in  other  words,  we  do  not  need  to  trouble  ourselves 
with  grand  theories  and  purposes.  The  determination  to 
do  just  what  lies  next  before  us  is  enough.  The  great  re- 
sults will  all  come  of  themselves  and  take  care  of  them- 
selves. We  may  spare  ourselves  all  grand  emotions  and 
heroics,  because  the  more  simply  and  directly  we  take  the 
business  of  life,  the  better  will  be  the  result.  The  third 
inference  which  seems  to  be  worth  mentioning  is  that  we 
come  to  understand  the  value  of  trifles. 

All  that  I  have  said  here  about  wisdom,  fame,  glory, 
"public  good,"  as  ends  to  be  aimed  at,  holds  good  also  of 
culture.  It  becomes  a  sham  and  affectation  when  we  make 
it  an  immediate  end,  and  comes  in  its  true  form  only  as  a 
remote  and  refined  result  of  long  labor  and  discipline. 

Before  I  speak  of  it,  however,  in  its  direct  relation  to 
education,  let  me  introduce  one  other  observation  on  the 
doctrine  I  have  stated  that  we  cannot  aim  at  the  great 
results  directly.  That  is  this:  the  motive  to  all  imme- 
diate efforts  is  either  self-interest  or  the  desire  to  gratify 
one's  tastes  and  natural  tendencies.  I  say  that  all  the 
grand  results  which  make  up  what  we  call  social  progress 
are  the  results  of  millions  of  efforts  on  the  part  of  millions 
of  people,  and  that  the  motive  to  each  effort  in  the  heart 
of  the  man  who  made  it  was  the  gratification  of  a  need  or 
a  tendency  of  his  nature.  I  know  that  some  may  consider 
this  a  selfish  doctrine,  eliminating  all  self-sacrifice  and 
martyr  or  missionary  spirit,  but  to  me  it  is  a  pleasure  to 
observe  that  we  are  not  at  war  with  ourselves,  and  that 
the  intelligent  pursuit  of  our  best  good  as  individuals  is 
the  surest  means  to  the  good  of  society.  Moreover,  do 
you  imagine  that  if  you  set  out  to  make  the  most  of  your- 
self in  any  position  in  which  you  are  placed,  that  you  will 
have  no  chance  for  self-sacrifice,  and  no  opportunity  of 
martyrdom  offered  you.'^     Do  you  think  that  a  man  who 


DISCIPLINE  429 

employs  thoroughly  all  the  means  he  possesses  to  make  his 
one  unit  of  humanity  as  perfect  as  possible,  can  do  so  with- 
out at  every  moment  giving  and  receiving  with  the  other 
units  about  him?  Do  you  think  that  he  can  go  on  far 
without  finding  himself  stopped  by  the  question  whether 
his  comrades  are  going  in  the  same  direction  or  not?  Will 
he  not  certainly  find  himself  forced  to  stand  against  a  tide 
which  is  flowing  in  the  other  direction?  It  will  certainly 
be  so.  The  real  martyrs  have  always  been  the  men  who 
were  forced  to  go  one  way  while  the  rest  of  the  community 
in  which  they  lived  were  going  another,  and  they  were 
swept  down  by  the  tide.  I  promise  you  that  if  you  pursue 
what  is  good  for  yourself,  you  need  not  take  care  for  the 
good  of  society;  I  warn  you  that  if  you  pursue  what  is 
good,  you  will  find  yourself  limited  by  the  stupidity,  igno- 
rance, and  folly  of  the  society  in  which  you  live;  and  I 
promise  you  also  that  if  you  hold  on  your  way  through  the 
crowd  or  try  to  make  them  go  with  you,  you  will  have 
ample  experience  of  self-sacrifice  and  as  much  martyrdom 
as  you  care  for. 

Now,  if  I  have  not  led  you  too  deep  into  social  philos- 
ophy, let  us  turn  again  to  culture.  We  find  that  culture 
comes  from  thought,  study,  observation,  literary  and  scien- 
tific activity,  and  we  find  that  men  practice  these  for  gain, 
for  professional  success,  for  immediate  pleasure,  or  to 
gratify  their  tastes.  The  great  motive  of  interest  provides 
the  energy  and  this  culture  is  but  a  secondary  result.  It 
is  a  significant  fact  to  observe  that  when  the  motive  of 
interest  is  removed,  culture  becomes  flaccid  and  falls  into 
dilletantism. 

I  think  that  we  have  gained  a  standpoint  now  from 
which  we  can  study  undergraduate  life  and  make  observa- 
tions on  it  which  have  even  scientific  value.  During  an 
undergraduate  career,  the  motive  of  interest  in  each  suc- 
cessive step  is  wanting.     There  is  no  immediate  object  of 


430     THE  FORGOTTEN   MAN  AND   OTHER  ESSAYS 

pleasure  or  gain  in  the  lesson  to  be  learned  next.  Only 
exceptionally  is  it  true  that  the  learning  of  the  lesson  will 
gratify  a  taste  or  fill  a  desire.  The  university  honors  are 
only  artificial  means  of  arousing  the  same  great  motive, 
which  is  in  the  social  body  what  gravitation  is  in  physics. 
The  penalties  which  are  here  to  be  dreaded  are  but  imita- 
tions of  life's  penalties.  I  think  that  many  who  have 
undertaken  to  give  advice  and  rebuke  and  warning  to 
young  men  in  a  state  of  pupilage  have  failed  because  they 
have  not  fully  analyzed  or  correctly  grasped  this  fact,  that 
the  academical  world  is  a  little  community  by  itself  in 
which  the  great  natural  forces  which  bind  older  men  to 
sobriety  and  wisdom  act  only  imperfectly.  Life  is  far  less 
interesting  when  the  successive  steps  are  taken  under  com- 
pulsion or  for  a  good  which  is  remote  and  only  known  by 
hearsay,  than  it  is  when  every  step  is  taken  for  an  imme- 
diate profit.  I  doubt  very  much  whether  the  hope  of  cul- 
ture or  self-sacrificing  zeal  for  the  public  good  would  make 
older  men  toil  in  lawyer's  oflBces  and  counting-houses, 
unless  there  were  such  immediate  rewards  as  wealth  and 
professional  success.  In  real  life  it  is  true  that  men  must 
do  very  many  things  which  are  disagreeable  and  wliich 
they  do  not  want  to  do,  but  there  too  the  disagreeable 
things  are  made  easier  to  bear.  The  troubles  of  academical 
life  seem  to  be  arbitrary  troubles,  inflicted  by  device  of 
foolish  or  malicious  men.  Troubles  of  that  kind  always 
rouse  men  to  anger  and  rankle  in  their  hearts.  But  there 
is  no  railing  against  those  ills  of  life  which  are  inherent  in 
the  constitution  of  things.  A  man  who  rails  at  those  is 
laughed  at.  So  the  man  just  emancipated  from  academical 
life  finds  himself  freed  from  conventional  rules  but  sub- 
jected to  penalties  for  idleness  and  extravagance  and  folly 
infinitely  heavier  than  any  he  has  been  accustomed  to,  and 
inflicted  without  warning  or  mercy  or  respite.  On  the  other 
hand,  he  finds  that  life  presents  opportunities  and  attrac- 


DISCIPLINE  431 

tions  for  him  to  work,  where  work  has  a  zest  about  it  which 
comes  from  contact  with  Hving  things.  His  academical 
weapons  and  armor  are  stiff  and  awkward  at  first  and  he 
may  very  probably  come  to  despise  them,  but  longer  ex- 
perience will  show  that  his  education,  if  it  was  good,  gave 
him  rather  the  power  to  use  any  weapons  than  special  skill 
in  the  use  of  particular  ones.  Special  technical  skill  always 
tends  to  routine.  Although  it  is  an  advantage  in  itself,  it 
may  under  circumstances  become  a  limitation.  The  only 
true  conception  of  a  "liberal"  education  is  that  it  gives  a 
broad  discipline  to  the  whole  man,  which  uses  routine 
without  being  conquered  by  it  and  can  change  its  direc- 
tion and  application  when  occasion  requires. 

This  brings  me  then  to  speak  of  the  real  scope  and  ad- 
vantage of  a  disciplinary  education.  A  man  who  has  en- 
joyed such  an  education  has  simply  had  his  natural  powers 
developed  and  reduced  to  rule,  and  he  has  gained  for  him- 
self an  intelligent  control  of  them.  Before  an  academical 
audience  it  is  not  necessary  for  me  to  stop  to  clear  away 
the  popular  notions  about  untutored  powers  and  self-made 
men.  It  is  enough  to  say  that  the  "self-made"  man  is, 
by  the  definition,  the  first  bungling  essay  of  a  bad  work- 
man. An  undeveloped  human  mind  is  simply  a  bundle  of 
possibilities.  It  may  come  to  much  or  little.  If  it  is  highly 
trained  by  years  of  patient  exercise,  judiciously  imposed,  it 
becomes  capable  of  strict  and  methodical  action.  It  may 
be  turned  to  any  one  of  a  hundred  tasks  which  offer  them- 
selves to  us  men  here  on  earth.  It  may  have  gained  this 
discipline  in  one  particular  science  or  another,  and  it  may 
have  special  technical  acquaintance  with  one  more  than 
another.  Such  will  almost  surely  be  the  case,  but  there  is 
not  a  more  mistaken,  one-sided,  and  mischievous  con- 
troversy than  that  about  the  science  which  should  be  made 
the  basis  of  education.  Every  science  has,  for  disciplinary 
purposes,  its  advantages  and  its  limitations.    The  man  who 


432    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

is  trained  on  chemistry  will  become  a  strict  analyst  and 
will  break  up  heterogeneous  compounds  of  all  kinds,  but 
he  will  be  likely  also  to  rest  content  with  this  destructive 
work  and  to  leave  the  positive  work  of  construction  or 
synthesis  to  others.  The  man  who  is  trained  on  history  will 
be  quick  to  discern  continuity  of  force  or  law  under  dif- 
ferent phases,  but  he  will  be  content  with  broad  phases  and 
heterogeneous  combinations  such  as  histor;y  offers,  and  will 
not  be  a  strict  analyst.  The  man  who  is  trained  on  mathe- 
matics will  have  great  power  of  grasping  purely  concep- 
tional  relations,  or  abstract  ideas,  which  are,  however, 
most  sharply  defined;  but  he  will  be  likely  to  fasten  upon 
a  subordinate  factor  in  some  other  kind  of  problem,  espe- 
cially if  that  factor  admits  of  more  complete  abstraction 
than  any  of  the  others.  The  man  who  is  trained  on  the 
science  of  language  approaches  the  continuity  and  develop- 
ment of  history  with  a  guiding  thread  in  his  hand,  and  his 
comparisons,  furnishing  stepping-stones  now  on  the  right 
and  now  on  the  left,  lead  him  on  in  a  course  where  induc- 
tion and  deduction  go  so  close  together  that  they  can 
hardly  be  separated;  but  the  study  of  language  again 
always  threatens  to  degenerate  into  a  cram  of  grammati- 
cal niceties  and  a  fastidiousness  about  expression,  under 
which  the  contents  are  forgotten.  Now,  in  individual 
affairs,  family,  social,  and  political  affairs,  all  these  powers 
of  mind  find  occasion  for  exercise.  They  are  needed  in 
business,  in  professions,  in  technical  pursuits;  and  the 
man  best  fitted  for  the  demands  of  life  would  be  the  man 
whose  powers  of  mind  of  all  these  diverse  orders  and  kinds 
had  all  been  harmoniously  developed.  How  shallow  then 
is  the  idea  that  education  is  meant  to  give  or  can  give  a 
mass  of  monopolized  information,  and  how  important  it 
is  that  the  student  should  understand  what  he  may  expect 
and  what  he  may  not  expect  from  his  education.  As  your 
education  goes  on,  you  ought  to  gain  in  your  power  of 


DISCIPLINE  433 

observation.  Natural  incidents,  political  occurrences,  social 
events,  ought  to  present  to  you  new  illustrations  of  general 
principles  with  which  your  studies  have  made  you  familiar. 
You  ought  to  gain  in  power  to  analyze  and  compare,  so 
that  all  the  fallacies  which  consist  in  presenting  things  as 
like,  which  are  not  like,  should  not  be  able  to  befog  your 
reason.  You  ought  to  become  able  to  recognize  and  test  a 
generalization,  and  to  distinguish  between  true  generaliza- 
tions and  dogmas  on  the  one  hand,  or  commonplaces  on 
another,  or  whimsical  speculations  on  another.  You  ought 
to  know  when  you  are  dealing  with  a  true  law  which  you 
may  follow  to  the  uttermost;  when  you  have  only  a  general 
truth;  when  you  have  an  hypothetical  theory;  when  you 
have  a  possible  conjecture;  and  when  you  have  only  an 
ingenious  assumption.  These  are  most  important  distinc- 
tions on  either  side.  Some  people  are  affected  by  a  notion, 
fashionable  just  now,  that  it  belongs  to  culture  never  to 
go  too  far.  Mr.  Brook,  in  "Middlemarch,"  you  remember, 
is  a  type  of  that  culture.  He  believed  in  things  up  to  a 
certain  point  and  was  always  afraid  of  going  too  far.  We 
have  a  good  many  aspirants  after  culture  nowadays  whose 
capital  consists  in  a  superficial  literary  tradition  and  the 
same  land  of  terror  of  going  too  far.  They  would  put  a 
saving  clause  in  the  multiplication  table,  and  make  reser- 
vations in  the  rule  of  three.  On  the  other  hand,  we  have 
those  who  can  never  express  anything  to  which  they  are 
inclined  to  assent  without  gushing.  A  simple  opinion 
must  be  set  forth  in  a  torrent  fit  to  enforce  a  great  scien- 
tific truth.  One  is  just  as  much  the  sign  of  an  imperfect 
training  as  the  other,  and  you  meet  with  both,  as  my  de- 
scription shows,  in  persons  who  pride  themselves  on  their 
culture.  I  will  not  deny  that  they  are  cultivated;  I  only 
say  that  they  are  not  well  disciplined,  that  is,  not  well 
educated. 

Your  education,  if  it  is  disciplinary,  ought  also  to  teach 


434    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

you  the  value  of  clear  thinking,  that  is,  of  exact  definitions, 
clear  propositions,  well-considered  opinions.  What  a  flood 
of  loose  rhetoric,  distorted  fact,  and  unclear  thinking  is 
poured  out  upon  us  whenever  a  diflBcult  question  falls  into 
popular  discussion!  You  cannot  find  that  people  who 
assume  to  take  part  in  the  discussion  have  a  clear  defini- 
tion in  their  minds  of  even  what  they  conceive  the  main 
terms  in  the  discussion  to  mean.  They  do  not  seem  able 
to  make  a  proposition  which  will  bear  handling  so  as  to 
see  what  it  is,  and  whether  it  is  true  or  not.  They  cannot 
analyze  even  such  facts  as  they  have  collected,  and  hence 
cannot  draw  inferences  which  are  sound.  It  needs  but 
little  discussion  of  any  great  political  or  social  question  to 
show  instances  of  this,  and  to  show  the  immense  impor- 
tance of  having  in  the  community  men  of  trained  and  dis- 
ciplined intellects,  who  can  think  with  some  clearness  and 
resist  plain  confusion  of  terms  and  thought.  For  instance, 
I  saw  the  other  day  a  long  argument  on  an  important 
public  topic  which  turned  upon  the  assertion  and  belief 
on  the  part  of  the  writer  that  a  mathematical  ratio  and  a 
subjective  opinion  were  things  of  the  same  nature  and 
value.  Perhaps,  when  he  was  at  school,  his  father  thought 
there  was  no  use  in  studying  algebra  and  geometry.  It 
would  not  make  so  much  difference  if  he  would  not  now 
meddle  with  things  for  which  he  did  not  prepare  himself, 
but  it  is  this  kind  of  person  who  is  the  pest  of  every  science, 
traversing  it  with  his  whims  and  speculations;  and  perhaps 
I  feel  the  more  strongly  the  importance  of  this  point  be- 
cause the  political,  economic,  and  social  sciences  suffer 
from  the  want  of  high  discipline  more  than  any  others. 

I  ought  not  to  pass  without  mention  here  the  mischief 
which  is  done  in  every  science  by  its  undisciplined  advo- 
cates who,  while  admitted  to  its  inner  circle,  distract  its 
progress  and  throw  it  into  confusion  by  neglect  of  strict 
principles,  by  incorrect  analyses  or  classifications,  or  by 


DISCIPLINE  435 

flinching  in  the  face  of  fallacies.  They  render  the  ranks 
unsteady  and  delay  the  march,  and  the  reason  is  because 
they  have  never  had  rigorous  discipline  either  before  or 
since  they  enlisted. 

If  your  education  is  disciplinary,  it  ought  also  to  teach 
you  how  to  organize.  I  add  this  point  especially  because 
I  esteem  it  important  and  it  is  rarely  noticed.  It  is  really 
a  high  grade  of  discipline  which  enables  men  to  organize 
voluntarily.  If  men  begin  to  study  and  think,  they  move 
away  from  tradition  and  authority.  The  first  effect  is  to 
break  up  and  dissolve  their  inherited  and  traditional  opin- 
ions as  to  religion,  politics,  and  society.  This  is  a  neces- 
sary process  of  transition  from  formal  and  traditional  dogma 
to  intelligent  conviction.  It  applies  to  all  the  notions  of 
religion,  as  has  often  been  noticed,  but  it  applies  none  the 
less  to  politics  and  to  one's  notions  of  life.  The  common- 
places of  patriotism,  the  watchwords  of  parties  and  tradi- 
tion, the  glib  and  well-worn  phrases  and  terms  have  to  be 
analyzed  again,  and  under  the  process  much  of  their  dignity 
and  sanctity  evaporates.  So  too  one's  views  of  life,  of  the 
meaning  of  social  phenomena,  and  of  the  general  rules  for 
men  to  pursue  with  each  other,  undergo  a  recasting.  Now 
during  this  process,  men  diverge  and  break  up.  They  do 
not  agree.  They  differ  by  less  and  more,  and  also  by  the 
various  recombinations  of  the  factors  which  they  make. 
Pride,  vanity,  and  self-seeking  come  in  to  increase  this 
divergence,  it  being  regarded  as  a  sign  of  independence 
of  thought.  .,, 

It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  so  long  as  this  divergence 
exists,  it  is  a  sign  of  a  low  and  imperfect  development  of 
science.  If  pride  and  vanity  intermingle,  they  show  that 
discipline  has  not  yet  done  its  perfect  work.  It  is  only  on 
a  higher  stage  of  culture  or  discipline  that  self  is  so  over- 
borne in  zeal  for  the  scientific  good  that  opinions  converge 
and   organization   becomes   possible.       But   you   are    well 


436    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND   OTHER  ESSAYS 

aware  that  without  organization  we  men  can  accomplish 
very  Httle.  It  is  not  the  freedom  of  the  barbarian  who 
would  rather  live  alone  than  undergo  the  inevitable  coer- 
cion of  the  neighborhood  of  others  that  we  want.  We 
want  only  free  and  voluntary  coordination,  but  it  belongs 
to  discipline  itself  to  teach  us  that  we  must  have  coordina- 
tion in  order  to  attain  to  any  high  form  of  good. 

I  have  now  tried  to  show  you  the  scope,  advantages,  and 
needs  of  a  disciplinary  education.  I  have  one  remark  more 
to  make  in  this  connection.  A  man  with  a  well-disciplined 
mind  possesses  a  tool  which  he  can  use  for  any  purpose 
which  he  needs  to  serve.  I  do  not  consider  it  an  important 
question  by  the  study  of  what  sciences  he  shall  get  this  dis- 
cipline, for,  if  he  gets  it,  the  acquisition  of  information  in 
any  new  department  of  learning  will  be  easy  for  him,  and 
he  will  be  strong,  alert,  and  well  equipped  for  any  exigency 
of  life. 

Before  quitting  the  subject,  I  desire  to  point  out  its  rela- 
tion to  one  other  matter,  that  is,  to  morals,  or  manners. 
It  is  a  common  opinion  that  the  higher  man  attains,  the 
freer  he  becomes.  A  moment's  reflection  will  show  that 
this  is  not  true  —  but  rather  quite  the  contrary.  The 
rowdy  has  far  less  restraints  to  consider  than  the  gentle- 
man. "Noblesse  oblige"  was  perverted  in  its  application, 
perhaps,  before  the  Revolution,  but  it  contains  a  sound 
principle  and  a  great  truth.  The  higher  you  go  in  social 
attainments,  the  greater  will  be  the  restraints  upon  you. 
The  gait,  the  voice,  the  manner,  the  rough  independence, 
of  one  order  of  men  is  unbecoming  in  another.  Education 
above  all  brings  this  responsibility.  Discipline  in  manners 
and  morals  does  not  belong  to  the  specific  matter  of  educa- 
tion, but  it  follows  of  itself  on  true  education.  The  educated 
man  must  work  by  himself  without  any  overseer  over  him. 
He  finds  his  compulsion  in  himself  and  it  holds  him  to  his 
task  longer  and  closer  than  any  external  compulsion. 


DISCIPLINE  437 

This  responsibility  to  self  we  call  honor,  and  it  is  one 
of  the  highest  fruits  of  discipline  when  discipline,  having 
wrought  through  intellect,  has  reached  character.     Honor 
falls  under  the  rule  which  I  mentioned  early  in  this  lecture. 
You  cannot  reach  it  because  you  want  it.     You  cannot 
reach  it  by  direct  effort.     It  cannot  be  taught  to  you  as  a 
literary  theory.     True  honor  can  only  grow  in  men  by  the 
long  practice  of  conduct  which  is  good  and  noble  under 
motives  which  are  pure.     We  laugh  at  the  artificial  honor 
of  the  Middle  Ages  and  despise  that  of  the  dueling  code, 
but  let  us  not  throw  away  the  kernel  with  the  shell.    Honor 
is  a  tribunal  within  one's  self  whose  code  is  simply  the  best 
truth  one  knows.     There  are  no  advocates,  no  witnesses, 
and  no  technicalities.     To  feel  one's  seK  condemned  by 
that  tribunal  is  to  feel  at  discord  with  one's  self  and  to  sus- 
tain a  wound  which  rankles  longer  and  stings  more  deeply 
than  any  wound  in  the  body.    It  is  the  highest  achievement 
of  educational  discipline  to  produce  this  sense  of  honor  in 
minds  of  young  men,  which  gives  them  a  guide  in  the  midst 
of  temptation  and  at  a  time  when  all  codes  and  standards 
seem  to  be  matter  of  opinion.     I  have  said  some  things 
about  lack   of   discipline   in   thought  and   discussion,   but 
that  is  nothing  compared   with  the  lack  of  discipline  in 
conduct  which  you  see  in  a  man  who  has  never  known 
wliat  honor  is,  whose  whole  moral  constitution  is  so  form- 
less and  flabby  that  it  can  perform  none  of   its  functions, 
and  who  is  continually  seeking  some  special  plea,  or  sophis- 
try, or  deceptive  device  for  paying  homage  to  the  right 
while  he  does  the  wrong.     Education  ought  to  act  against 
all  this  and  in  favor  of  a  high  code  of  honor,  not  simply 
the  education  of  schools  and  academies,  but  that  together 
with  the  education  of  home  and  family.     Our  great  educa- 
tional institutions  ought  to  have  an  atmosphere  of  their 
own  and  impose  traditions  of  their  own,  for  the  power  which 
controls  in  the  academic  community  is  not  the  voice  of 


4S8    THE  FORGOTTEN   MAN  AND  OTHER   ESSAYS 

authority  but  the  voice  of  academic  public  opinion.  That 
might  root  out  falsehood  and  violence  and  meanness  of 
every  kind,  which  no  penalties  of  those  in  authority  could 
ever  reach;  and  I  submit  that  such  a  public  opinion  would 
be  becoming  in  a  body  of  young  men  of  good  home  advan- 
tages and  the  best  educational  opportunities  the  country 
affords.  Call  it  high  training,  or  culture,  or  discipline,  or 
high  breeding,  or  what  you  will,  it  is  only  the  sense  of 
what  we  owe  to  ourselves,  and  it  is  greater  and  greater 
according  to  our  opportunities. 


THE   COOPERATIVE   COMMONWEALTH 


THE   COOPERATIVE   COMMONWEALTH 

Note  by  the  Editor 

AMONG  Professor  Sumner's  papers  there  turned  up 
a  curiosity  which  I  do  not  like  to  pass  over  altogether, 
although  it  is  more  appropriate,  perhaps,  to  the  purposes 
of  the  biographer.  Apparently  Sumner  amused  himself, 
along  in  the  seventies  or  early  eighties,  in  figuring  to  him- 
self the  state  of  the  world  under  a  socialistic  regime  of  the 
sort  which  he  was  always  ridiculing  and  opposing.  He  did 
this  by  imagining  the  contents  of  a  socialist  newspaper, 
the  New  Era,  of  the  date  July  4,  1950,  consisting  of  edito- 
rials, news  notes,  public  announcements,  criminal  cases,  and 
even  a  book  review.  The  whole  caricatures  in  high 
colors  the  phenomena  attending  such  a  regime  in  its 
period  of  exuberance.  "The  following,"  he  writes,  "is  a 
complete  and  verbatim  copy  of  a  [New  York  City]  news- 
paper of  the  date  given.  It  is  printed  on  a  small  quarter 
sheet  of  coarse  paper.  The  printing  is  so  bad  that  it  is 
hard  to  read,  and  the  typographical  errors,  all  of  which 
have  been  corrected,  are  inexcusable." 

The  motto  of  the  paper  is:  "Let  the  Rich  Pay!  Let 
the  Poor  Enjoy!"  The  responsible  editor  is  Lasalle  Smith, 
and  the  proprietors  Marx  Jones,  Chairman  of  the  New 
York  City  Board  of  Ethical  Control,  Cabet  Johnson,  Chair- 
man of  the  Board  of  Arbitration  for  Wages  and  Prices, 
Babceuf  Brown,  Chairman  of  the  Board  of  Control  for 
Rents  and  Loans,  and  Rousseau  Peters,  President  of  the 
Cooperative  Bank.  A  notice  warns  readers  that  "This 
paper   is    published    strictly    under    the    cooperative    rules 

441 


442    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

established  by  the  Typographical  Union  in  our  office  and 
under  the  direction  of  the  council  of  the  same.  The  Com- 
mittee of  Grievances  gives  its  assent  and  approval  to 
each  number  before  it  is  published.  All  subscriptions  are 
payable  monthly  in  advance  to  the  Treasurer  of  the  Typo- 
graphical Union.  The  Typographical  Union,  being  a  mem- 
ber of  the  organized  Cooperative  Commonwealth,  has  police 
powers  for  the  collection  of  all  sums  due  to  it." 


A  special  notice  reads  as  foUows: 

We  send  copies  of  this  edition  of  our  paper  to  a  large 
number  of  persons  who  have  not  hitherto  cooperated  in  our 
enterprise  but  whom  we  have  enrolled  until  they  signify 
their  refusal.  We  call  especial  attention  to  the  names  and 
standing  in  the  Cooperative  Commonwealth  of  the  pro- 
prietors of  this  journal.  We  believe  that  many  of  those 
whom  we  now  invite  to  cooperate,  and  who  have  been  under 
suspicion  of  being  monopolists,  capitalists,  recalcitrants,  and 
reactionists,  will  see  that  they  cannot  better  establish  their 
credit  for  civism  than  by  accepting  our  invitation. 


The  following  extracts  are  from  the  editorials: 
Our  reports  of  the  Ethical  Tribunal  show  that  our  noble 
Board  of  Ethical  Control  needs  to  guard  diligently  our 
interests.  Another  pestilent  preacher  has  been  condemned 
to  the  chain  gang.  At  least  we  make  sure  that  our  streets 
will  be  cleaned,  a  task  which  no  cooperators  could  be  asked 
to  perform,  since  all  the  ancient  lawyers,  professors,  and 
preachers  are  now  condemned  to  this  business.  The 
stubbornness  and  incorrigibility  of  these  classes  towards  the 
Commonwealth  is  astonishing. 

The  Board  of  Ethical  Control  announce  as  the  result  of 
the  plebiscite  which  was  taken  on  April  1  last,  that,  by  a 


COOPERATIVE  COMMONWEALTH  443 

vote  of  5319  to  782,  the  Commonwealth  voted  to  retain  the 
present  Board  of  Ethical  Control  for  ten  years,  instead  of 
reelecting  them  annually  as  heretofore.  This  is  as  it 
should  be.  TNTiy  disturb  the  tranquillity  of  our  happy 
state  by  constant  elections  when  our  affairs  are  entrusted 
to  such  competent  hands  .'^ 

The  agents  of  the  Board  of  Ethical  Control  reported  213 
persons  found  dead  in  the  streets  at  the  dawn  of  day,  174 
bearing  marks  of  violence;  the  rest,  not  having  coopera- 
tors'  tickets,  were  ancient  monopolists  who  had  apparently 
perished  of  want.  The  Grand  Cooperator  said  that  he 
should  submit  to  the  Board  of  Ethical  Control  the  ques- 
tion whether  it  is  edifying  to  continue  these  reports. 


There  follow  extracts  from  the  inaugural  of  G.  P.  M.  C* 
Lasalle  Brown,  which  begin  with  the  sentiment: 

Of  old  ye  were  enslaved  by  those  who  said:  Work!  Save! 
Study!  We  emancipate  you  by  saying:  Enjoy!  Enjoy! 
Enjoy  ! 

The  first  right  of  everyone  born  on  this  earth  is  the 
right  to  enjoy.  The  Cooperative  Commonwealth  assures 
this  right  to  all  its  members. 

•  We  have  not  abolished  private  property.  We  only 
hold  that  every  man  is  considered  to  have  devoted  his 
property  to  public  use.  W^e  have  not  abolished  landlords, 
capitalists,  employers,  or  captains  of  industry.  We  retain 
and  use  them.  Such  members  of  a  society  are  useful  and 
necessary  if  only  they  be  held  firmly  in  check  and  forced 
to  contribute  to  the  public  good. 

We  need  "history"  and  "statistics"  to  batter  down 
all  the  old  system,  but  we  should  be  the  dupes  of  our  own 

^  These  initials,  as  wdll  be  seen  below,  mean  Grand  Passed  Master  Cooperator, 
while  G.  C.  indicates  the  lower  grade  of  Grand  Cooperator. 


444     THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

processes  if  we  used  them  against  ourselves.  All  sensible 
cooperators  should  know  that  history  and  statistics  are 
far  greater  swindles  than  science. 

There  are  dangers  in  the  Cooperative  Commonwealth 
which  demand  vigilance.  There  is  danger  of  jealousy  and 
division  amongst  cooperators.  Harmony  is  essential  to  the 
Cooperative  Commonwealth  and  we  must  have  it  at  any 
price. 

Some  say  that  our  Commonwealth  is  weak.  It  is  the 
strongest  state  that  ever  existed.  No  one  before  our  time 
ever  knew  the  power  of  a  "mob,"  as  it  used  to  be  called. 
At  a  tap  of  the  bell,  every  cooperator  is  at  hand.  Our  only 
danger  is  factious  division  of  this  power.  Let  every  co- 
operator  have  rewards  for  harmony  and  penalties  for  fac- 
tion —  strict,  sure,  and  heavy ! 

There  is  danger  from  science.  The  evolution  heresy  is 
a  worse  foe  to  cooperation  than  the  old  Christian  dogma. 
Stamp  it  out! 

There  is  danger  from  the  virus  of  the  old  anarchism 
—  worst  of  all  because  it  is  often  enough  like  the  truth  to 
deceive  the  elect.  It  means  liberty  and  individualism. 
Stamp  it  out! 

Under  the  heading  "Domestic  News'*  occurs  the 
following: 

The  Commissioners  of  Emigration  have  detected  several 
persons  striving  to  leave  the  city  for  Long  Island,  carrying 
gold  with  them.  It  is  well  known  that  many  rich  persons, 
animated  by  selfishness  and  disregarding  their  duties  as 
trustees  of  their  wealth  for  the  public,  have  escaped  to  the 
wilds  of  Long  Island  beyond  the  Commune  of  Brooklyn, 
carrying  with  them  all  the  gold  which  they  could  obtain. 
Hence  the  Commissioners  of  Emigration  have  arranged  to 
patrol  the  East  River  by  the  Commonwealth  galleys  and 
have   limited   the   ferry   transits   to   the   Fulton  ferry  be- 


COOPERATIVE  COMMONWEALTH  445 

tween  8  and  9  a.m.  and  5  and  6  p.m.  Any  persons  found 
carrying  away  gold  will  be  sent  to  the  galleys  and  the 
gold  confiscated.  Gold  is  needed  to  buy  supplies  for  the 
Commonwealth. 

No  dispatches  from  Philadelphia  have  been  received  for 
a  fortnight.  A  steamboat  of  100  tons  burden  is  cruising  in 
the  Hudson  River,  taking  toll  of  all  goods  in  transit  across 
the  river.  Reports  disagree  as  to  the  character  of  the 
persons  on  this  boat.  By  some  it  is  asserted  to  be  manned 
by  cooperators  who,  being  poor,  are  putting  into  effect  ethi- 
cal claims  against  material  goods.  By  others  it  is  said  to 
be  manned  by  a  gang  of  monopolist  scoundrels  and  vaga- 
bonds, who,  driven  to  desperation  by  the  boycott  and  plan 
of  campaign,  seek  this  means  to  perpetuate  their  existence. 
It  behooves  the  Board  of  Ethical  Control  to  learn  which 
of  these  reports  is  correct  before  taking  action. 

A  report  comes  from  the  West  that  the  Indians  have 
seized  Illinois,  killing  the  whites  and  taking  possession  of 
the  improvements.  They  have  imbibed  the  ancient  capi- 
talistic notions  and  are  impervious  to  ethical  and  coopera- 
tive doctrines.  They  are  rapidly  increasing  in  numbers, 
strange  as  it  may  seem,  for  we  have  read  in  ancient  books 
that  they  were  dying  out  a  century  ago.  It  is  suggested 
that  they  now  increase  because  they  are  conquering, 
and  that  they  will  go  on  doing  so  until  they  exterminate 
all  whites  from  the  continent.  In  the  absence  of  private 
mails,  we  humbly  suggest  that  our  Board  of  Ethical  Con- 
trol should  communicate  with  similar  boards  of  the 
communes  to  the  westward. 


Under  the  heading  "Industrial": 

The  Board  of  Equalization  of  Production  have  set  the 
amounts  of  various  commodities  which  may  be  produced 


446     THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

during  the  coming  fall  season.  Those  whom  it  concerns 
are  to  call  at  the  office  of  the  Board  at  once,  pay  the  fees, 
and  obtain  their  instructions.  The  penalty  of  over-pro- 
duction is  fixed  at  100  cooperative  units  per  unit  of  prod- 
uct, half  to  the  informer. 

The  Board  of  Arbitration  for  Contracts  will  sit  daily  at 
their  office  in  Cooperative  Hall  from  10  to  12  a.m.  to  ap- 
prove of  contracts.  The  fee  is  1000  cooperative  units  from 
each  party.  Notice  is  called  to  the  ordinance  of  the  Board 
of  Ethical  Control:  "If  two  or  more  persons  make  a  con- 
tract without  the  presence  and  approval  of  the  Board  of 
Arbitration  or  otherwise  than  in  conformity  with  the 
regulations  of  said  Board,  they  may  be  fined  according  to 
the  circumstances  of  the  case." 

The  Cooperative  Railroad  Commission,  having  found  a 
mechanic  to  repair  the  locomotive,  announce  that  they 
will  recommence  regular  weekly  trips  to  Yonkers  on  next 
Monday.  A  train  will  start  at  9  a.m.,  or  as  soon  thereafter 
as  convenient.  Accommodation  for  twenty-five  passengers. 
Passports  may  be  obtained  until  noon  on  Saturday.  They 
must  be  vised  by  the  Railroad  Commission  and  by  the 
Cooperative  Guardians  of  Public  Morals  at  their  office  in 
the  Cooperative  Workhouse  not  later  than  two  o'clock  on 
the  same  time.  The  fare  to  Y^onkers  will  be  10,000  coopera- 
tive units.  On  account  of  the  inter-county  commerce  law, 
all  freight  and  passengers  will  be  trans-shipped  at  Yonkers. 
To  prevent  vexatious  inquiries,  the  Commission  hereby 
announce  that  they  are  not  informed  whether  or  when 
trains  will  be  dispatched  to  points  beyond. 

Since  the  Commonwealth  was  founded,  as  our  readers 
know,  cooperators  have  refused  to  work  in  coal  mines.  No 
great  harm  has  come  of  this  since  the  factories  and  ma- 


COOPERATIVE   COMMONWEALTH  447 

chinery  have  been  abolished  and  railroads  and  steamers 
have  almost  gone  out  of  use.  Some  coal,  however,  is  a 
convenience,  and  our  readers  will  see  with  pleasure  that 
delinquents  in  considerable  numbers  are  being  sent  to 
these  mines  under  an  agreement  with  our  Board  of  Ethical 
Control  with  the  similar  authority  of  the  Lehigh  Commune 
in  the  ancient  state  of  Pennsylvania. 

We  are  informed  that  a  number  of  ancient'capitalists  and 
monopolists,  being  in  a  starving  condition,  recently  applied 
to  the  Board  of  the  said  Commune  for  leave  to  go  into  an 
abandoned  coal  mine  and  work  it  for  their  own  support. 

A  week  ago  yesterday.  Cooperative  Association  2391, 
A.  P.  D.,  bricklayers,  7824,  M.  X.  H.,  plasterers,  4823 
N.  K.  J.,  hodcarriers,  F.  L.  M.  8296,  joiners,  met  to  con- 
sider the  state  of  the  building  trades.  On  account  of  the 
decrease  in  the  population,  by  which  great  numbers  of 
houses  are  vacant,  building  has  ceased  for  years  past  and 
these  once  great  associations  have  dwindled  down.  The 
Board  of  Ethical  Control  has  caused  public  buildings  to 
be  constructed  in  order  to  give  them  work  and  has  ordered 
landlords  to  make  repairs  to  the  same  end.  The  confer- 
ence on  Friday,  a  week  ago,  was  to  consider  further  meas- 
ures of  relief.  It  was  decided  that  no  vacant  house  ought 
to  be  allowed  to  stand.  Some  maintained  that  no  repairs 
ought  to  be  allowed  at  all,  in  order  that  new  houses  might 
become  necessary,  but  others  thought  that  this  would  take 
away  what  little  work  is  now  obtained.  G.  C.  Marx  Rog- 
ers, former  professor  of  political  economy,  made  a  speech 
in  which  he  proposed  that  all  houses  now  vacant  and  all 
ruins  now  standing  which  give  shelter  to  unregistered  vaga- 
bonds and  boycotted  persons  should  be  destroyed;  also 
that  a  committee  be  appointed  to  inspect  all  existing  dwell- 
ings, mark  those  which  are  out  of  repair  and  unfit  for  co- 
operative  residences,   and   that   these  latter   should   then 


448    THE  FORGOTTEN   MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

be  razed  to  the  ground.  This  would  cause  an  immediate 
demand  for  new  houses.  This  proposition  was  unanimously 
adopted. 

On  Wednesday  last  the  cooperative  associations  afore- 
said met  to  hear  the  report  of  the  committee.  Twelve 
hundred  and  forty-seven  houses  had  been  noted  so  far  as 
unfit  for  residences.  The  joint  associations  passed  a  decree 
against  said  houses,  as  a  beginning,  and  ordered  the  com- 
mittee of  the  whole  to  proceed  to  execute  it. 

They  marched  in  a  body  to  Bleecker  Street,  the  northern- 
most limit  of  the  ruined  houses  and  demolished  them  en- 
tirely. They  then  moved  southerly,  destroying  all  vacant 
houses.  Gradually,  a  number  of  persons  gathered  to  look 
on.  The  agents  of  Ethical  Supervision  kept  this  crowd  at 
a  distance  and  secured  the  joint  Cooperative  Associations 
full  independence  in  the  execution  of  their  decree. 

In  East  Canal  Street,  Nonconformist  Jonathan  Merritt, 
lessee  of  a  block  of  tenements,  tried  to  dissuade  or  prevent 
the  destruction  of  his  buildings.  He  was  roughly  handled, 
his  skull  split  open  and  his  arm  broken  by  the  cooperators. 
The  agents  of  Ethical  Supervision  took  him  in  on  a  charge 
of  disturbing  the  public  peace. 

When  it  came  to  the  destruction  of  occupied  buildings, 
the  tenants  objected.  By  the  ordinance  of  the  Board  of 
Lodgings  and  Rents,  each  had  been  allotted  to  his  domi- 
cile and  was,  of  course,  bound  to  keep  it  until  allowed  to 
change.  It  was  also  feared  that  no  lodgings  could  be  found. 
The  Board  of  Lodgings  and  Rents  immediately  convened 
and  issued  new  allotments  of  domicile.  Suspects,  noncon- 
formists, recalcitrants,  and  reactionists  were  sent  to  lodge 
in  the  ancient  churches  and  the  cooperators  were  assigned 
to  their  tenements. 

The  revival  and  prosperity  of  the  building  trades  is  now 
assured. 


COOPERATIVE  COMMONWEALTH  449 

Under  the  heading  "Misdemeanors": 

Of  all  forms  of  incivism,  the  most  reprehensible  is  hoard- 
ing gold.  All  good  cooperators  who  know  of  cases  of  this 
criminal  selfishness  are  bound  to  report  it  at  the  Bureau  of 
Ethical  Supervision  under  penalty  of  incivism  on  the  one 
hand  and  a  reward  of  ten  per  cent  of  the  sum  on  the  other. 
All  gold  must  be  exchanged  at  the  bank  of  G.  C.  Cabet 
Rogers  for  cooperative  units. 

An  audacious  lampoon  has  been  printed  at  some  secret 
press,  the  authors  of  which  must  be  discovered  at  all  cost. 
It  is  a  blasphemous  parody  of  the  Cooperative  Catechism. 
The  Commission  of  Ethical  Inquiry  has  directed  all  its 
powerful  machinery  to  detect  the  authors  of  this  outrage. 
Let  every  cooperator  oppoint  himself  a  detective  to  help. 
Search  every  house  in  your  neighborhood !  Trust  nobody! 
Every  person  found  in  possession  of  a  copy  of  this  pamph- 
let will  be  summarily  removed  from  the  Commonwealth. 

The  supply  of  potatoes  which  forms  the  staple  food  of 
the  mass  of  our  population  is  obtained  from  the  northern 
part  of  the  commune,  in  what  was  formerly  Westchester 
County.  The  great  fields  there  are  tilled  by  the  dehn- 
quents  under  taxes  and  fines,  incorrigible  monopolists,  sur- 
vival capitalists  and  others  under  judicial  sentence,  under 
the  direction  of  the  Board  of  Ethical  Control.  The  con- 
victs work  from  sunrise  to  sunset,  in  order  to  mark  the  dis- 
tinction between  them  and  honorable  cooperators,  who 
work  but  five  hours  per  day.  The  product  of  the  fields  on 
its  way  to  the  town  is  subjected  to  toll  by  the  free  coop- 
erative associations  of  the  suburbs.  Hence  it  always 
threatens  to  be  inadequate.  Good  cooperators  cannot 
better  serve  the  Commonwealth  than  by  ferreting  out 
violators  of  the  ordinances  and  other  persons  guilty  of 
incivism. 


450    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

Karl  Marx  Jones,  agent  of  the  Board  of  Equalization  of 
Distribution,  has  disappeared.  It  is  thought  that  he  has 
gone  towards  Boston.  He  reported  to  the  Board,  it  will 
be  remembered,  two  weeks  ago,  a  case  of  hoarding  of  gold. 
He  was  sent  to  collect  it  and  was  made  custodian  of  it. 
It  has  disappeared.  The  Board  count  upon  the  aid  of 
communes  to  the  eastward  to  recover  the  gold,  but  not 
very  confidently.  He  left  all  his  cooperative  units  behind 
him. 

Ordinances  of  the  Committee  of  Inquiry  appears  as 
follows  : 

Boycotts  are  declared  against  Robert  Dorr,  for  saying 
that  the  Cooperative  Commonwealth  is  only  a  scheme  to 
let  a  few  exploit  all  the  rest;  Matthew  Brown,  for  saying 
that  it  is  all  a  woman's  honor  is  worth  to  appear  on  the 
street  of  the  Cooperative  Commonwealth,  even  thickly 
veiled,  for  she  runs  the  risk  of  attracting  the  attention  of 
someone  against  whom  no  one  can  defend  her;  James 
Rowe,  for  refusing  to  aid  the  agents  of  the  society  in  tak- 
ing from  her  home  without  public  scandal  a  woman  charged 
with  incivism;  John  White,  for  hiding  gold  coin;  William 
Peck,  for  saying  that  Grand  Cooperator  Lasalle  Brown 
secured  the  boycott  of  Elihu  Snow  to  get  his  property  away 
from  him;  Edward  Grant,  for  saying  that  the  Cooperative 
Commonwealth  is  only  slavery  m  disguise  and  the  treat- 
ment of  persons  convicted  of  incivism  is  slavery  without 
disguise;  Peter  Moon,  for  saying  that  the  Plan  of  Cam- 
paign is  only  a  scheme  to  allow  a  man's  debtors  to  rob 
him  of  a  small  fraction  of  their  debts  if  they  will  let  some 
of  the  Grand  Cooperators  rob  him  of  all  the  remainder. 


A  considerable  number  of  minor  offences  are  tried  before 
Grand  Cooperator  Rodbertus  Pease,  Member  of  the  Board 
of  Ethical  Control: 


COOPERATIVE  COMMONWEALTH  451 

George  Wood,  aged  sixty,  was  arraigned  for  carrying  a 
pistol  at  night,  not  being  a  member  of  any  cooperative 
club  and  therefore  not  entitled  so  to  do.  He  declared  that 
the  streets  were  unsafe  at  night  and  that  he  never  went  out 
after  dark  if  he  could  help  it,  but  that  he  was  compelled 
to  go  for  a  doctor  for  his  sick  grandchild  and  took  the  pistol 
for  security.  He  was  met  by  two  cooperators  who  asked 
him  to  contribute  to  the  Aged  Cooperators'  Retreat.  On 
his  declaring  that  he  had  nothing,  they  searched  him  and 
found  the  pistol.  They  then  demanded  his  cooperator's 
ticket.  As  he  had  none,  they  took  him  to  the  Bureau  of 
Ethical  Supervision,  where  he  was  detained  until  morning. 
The  two  complainants  appeared  against  him.  They  de- 
clared that  they  were  poor  men.  On  examination  it  ap- 
peared that  he  was  an  incorrigible  adherent  of  the  ancient 
monopolism.  He  was  fined  10,000  cooperative  units,  half 
to  the  informers.  He  began  to  lament  at  this,  saying  that 
he  was  very  poor  —  poorer  than  the  complainants;  but  the 
Grand  Cooperator  declared  that  no  man  could  be  a  poor 
man  who  was  not  a  cooperator. 

The  Emigration  Commissioners  whose  sole  duty  is  to 
prevent  any  immigrants  from  coming  into  our  commune 
put  at  the  bar  Fritz  Meyer,  charged  with  immigrating. 
He  pretended  to  be  a  sailor  on  the  Ferdinand  Lasalle,  but 
did  not  return  on  board  of  her  before  she  sailed.  In  defence 
he  pleaded  that  he  was  left  by  accident.  He  was  con- 
demned to  serve  on  the  yacht  of  the  Board  of  Ethical  Con- 
trol at  the  pleasure  of  said  Board. 

Ulysses  Perkins  and  others,  some  of  whom  were  coopera- 
tors and  some  not,  complained  that  their  neighborhood  was 
annoyed  by  the  Cooperative  Brotherhood  who  hold  their 
evening  festivals  at  Cooperative  Hall.  They  declared  that 
there  was  shouting  and  singing  and  that  windows  were 
broken  in  spite  of  the  heavy  shutters.  Their  complaint 
was  dismissed  as  an  attempt  to  oppress  organized  labor. 


452    THE  FORGOTTEN   MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

and  the  cooperators  amongst  them  were  especially  repri- 
manded. The  Grand  Cooperator  remarked  that  the 
prejudice  against  beer  which  was  manifested  in  ancient 
prohibitory  and  license  laws  was  not  respected  by  the 
ethical  judgment  of  our  time. 

On  Monday  last,  several  persons  appeared  to  complain 
that  the  roads  outside  of  the  city  are  infested  by  robbers. 
They  were  detained  and  the  Board  of  Ethical  Control  sent 
out  delegates  to  inquire.  They  reported  yesterday,  when 
the  complainants  were  brought  before  the  tribunal  to  hear 
their  report.  They  denied  that  there  was  any  robbery, 
since  robbery  means  undue  exaction  of  rent  or  of  work  for 
wages.  The  word  was  used  by  the  complainants  in  the 
ancient  capitalistic  sense.  The  delegates  found  many 
cooperators  enjoying  holiday  in  the  fields  and  by  the  way- 
side. Some  of  them  were  playful  and  resented  the  exclusive 
manner  of  passers-by  who  did  not  engage  in  sport.  They 
asked  for  treats,  and  they  had  appointed  a  committee  to 
solicit  funds  for  their  games.  Some  bands  of  banished 
monopolists  were  reported  to  be  infesting  the  woods,  liv- 
ing by  chance  or  by  tilling  some  small  fields  which  have 
not  been  allotted  to  them,  and  plotting  against  the  Com- 
monwealth. The  Grand  Cooperator  said  that  such  per- 
sons would  be  promptly  dealt  with  and  dispatched  a  force 
of  guardians  of  Ethical  Order  against  them.  The  com- 
plainants were  discharged  with  a  reprimand  for  misrepre- 
senting the  innocent  enjoyment  of  the  cooperators  in  the 
suburb. 

William  Johnson,  employer,  was  arraigned  for  contumacy. 
The  Board  of  Arbitration  ordered  him  to  pay  1000  coopera- 
tive units  per  day  of  six  hours.  He  closed  his  works.  The 
Grand  Cooperator  ordered  a  second  charge  for  malicious 
lockout  and  fined  him  10,000  cooperative  units  per  day 
until  he  should  reopen  his  works. 

Eliza  Marcy,   cook,   actress,   26,   was  charged  with  de- 


COOPERATI\^   COMMONWEALTH  453 

famation  of  Emily  Wilson,  cooperative  seamstress.  The 
accused  presented  a  certificate  of  patronage  from  G.  M.  C. 
Brissot  Robinson  and  was  discharged  from  custody,  a  re- 
script of  the  charge  being  transmitted  to  G.  M.  C.  Robin- 
son for  such  action  as  he  should  deem  proper. 

Maria  Waters,  arraigned  for  working  at  type-setting  be- 
low man's  rates,  pleaded  poverty  and  distress  as  an  excuse. 
She  is  the  daughter  of  an  ancient  monopolist  from  whom 
she  inherited  $100,000  before  the  abolition  of  inheritance. 
She  had  therefore  been  denied  admittance  to  any  coopera- 
tive society.  She  was  fined  1000  cooperative  units  and 
sent  to  the  Ethical  Workhouse  to  work  it  out. 

Patrick  Boyle,  cooperative  bricklayer,  for  mending  his 
own  table,  he  not  being  a  member  of  the  furniture-makers* 
union,  was  arraigned  as  a  scab  and  sentenced  to  forfeit  his 
cooperative  ticket,  be  graded  as  a  non-conformist,  and 
pay  1000  cooperative  units  fine.  Being  unable  to  pay,  he 
was  put  under  G.  M.  C.  Scroggs  to  work  it  out. 


Under  "  Benefits  and  Amusements  "  : 

In  addition  to  the  three  regular  Labor  Days  of  July,  the 
10th,  20th,  and  30th,  the  Board  of  Ethical  Control  has 
decreed  an  extra  one  on  the  18th,  with  full  wages.  Com- 
monwealth galleys  will  be  ready  to  convey  cooperators 
and  their  famihes  to  Blackwell's  Island,  where  the  dancing 
and  dining  rooms  m  the  ancient  prisons  of  despotism  will 
be  arranged  for  their  entertainment.  There  will  be  a  free 
circus  at  3  p.m.  and  a  free  variety  entertainment  in  the 
evening.  The  two  latter  have  been  provided  by  the  liber- 
ality of  G.  P.  M.  C.  Lasalle  Brown. 

Rents  remitted  for  June  and  all  arrears  before  January  1. 


454    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

All  cobperators  in  good  standing  are  entitled  to  pensions 
of  100  cooperative  units  per  week,  with  rations  of  coopera- 
tive bread  and  beer. 

The  agents  of  the  Board  of  Equalization  of  Distribution 
will  begin  next  Monday  the  distribution  of  July  pensions 
to  all  cooperators  m  good  and  regular  standing.  The  agents 
will  call  at  the  residences  of  cobperators.  There  has  been 
some  delay  which  has  occasioned  just  murmurs.  It  has 
been  due  to  delinquencies  of  tax-payers,  amongst  whom 
not  a  little  old  capitalistic  virus  remains. 

Masked  Ball  on  every  Sunday  evening  in  the  ancient 
Trinity  Church.  Cooperative  Enjoyment  Association. 
Admission  100  c.  u.  All  persons  must  wear  cooperative 
medals  displayed. 

"  Foreign  News  "  reports  the  following  debacle: 

It  will  be  remembered  that  about  three  years  ago  the 
last  remnant  of  English  landlords  was  exiled  to  Guiana. 
The  Commune  of  London  granted  them  a  ship,  of  which 
an  immense  number  blocked  the  Thames,  not  having  occu- 
pation, and  they  were  allowed  to  navigate  it  if  they  could. 
Their  children  were  taken  away  from  them,  to  be  educated 
in  the  principles  of  cooperation.  From  this  mistaken  com- 
plaisance a  series  of  evil  consequences  have  flowed. 

Some  of  the  exiles  have  had  yachting  experience  and  most 
of  them,  being  trained  in  the  ancient  athletic  sports,  were 
able  to  na\dgate  the  ship.  Instead  of  obeying  the  law, 
they  sailed  to  Gibraltar  and  captured  the  ancient  fortress. 
There  they  obtained  arms  and  cannons,  of  which  they  put 
a  number  on  board  their  ship  and  returned  to  London. 
Their  first  step  was  to  seize  the  Columbus,  a  fine  steamer  of 
1000  tons  burden,  one  of  the  newest  and  in  best  repair  of 
those  lying  in  the  river.     They  then  filled  her  bunkers  with 


COOPERATIVE  COMMONWEALTH  455 

coal  and  wood  which  they  took  by  force  from  the  Common- 
wealth barges  in  the  river.  They  next  seized  the  arsenals 
at  Greenwich  and  Norwich,  carried  off  a  great  number  of 
repeating  rifles  and  ammunition,  and  destroyed  all  the  rest. 
The  cooperators  of  London,  being  taken  unawares  and 
being  prepared  only  to  cope  with  the  city  monopolists,  who 
had  been  disarmed,  were  unable  to  interfere. 

The  pirates  moored  their  vessel  opposite  the  city  and 
sent  a  message  of  the  G.  P.  M.  C.  by  a  captured  coop- 
erator  that  they  would  bombard  the  city  if  their  children 
were  not  all  delivered  to  them.  A  hundred  of  them  landed 
with  repeating  rifles  and  revolvers  and  marched  to  the 
cooperative  factories,  where  they  set  free  all  who  chose 
to  join  them.  In  short,  they  departed  after  securing  their 
children,  a  vast  quantity  of  tools  and  machinery,  arms, 
supplies,  and  ammunition.  A  large  number  of  flunkies 
and  snobs  joined  them,  suflBcient  to  man  one  or  two  other 
vessels. 

It  now  appears  that  they  have  taken  possession  of  the 
Island  of  Sicily  and  made  it  a  base  of  concentration  for  a 
grand  political  reaction.  They  have  proclaimed  as  far  as 
possible  that  their  island  is  a  refuge  for  landlords,  monopo- 
lists, and  capitalists,  and  the  roads  of  Europe  are  crowded 
with  vagabonds  seeking  to  reach  this  nest  of  pirates.  The 
pirate  state  is  growing.  It  is  a  republic  like  one  of  our 
ancient  states.  It  has  an  army  of  5000  men  who  boast  that 
with  the  arms  which  they  possess  they  can  march  from  one 
end  of  Europe  to  another.  They  control  the  Mediterranean 
and  all  its  coasts.  They  have  served  notice  on  the  com- 
munal commonwealths  of  the  Continent  that  they  will 
avenge  any  coercion  exercised  against  any  persons  who 
seek  to  join  them,  and  six  months  ago  they  sent  a  force 
of  6000  men  to  Lyons  to  set  free  a  band  of  aristocrats  who 
were  imprisoned  there  and  were  threatened  with  the 
guillotine. 


456    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

It  is  said  that  there  are  no  artisans  now  who  are  able 
to  manufacture  repeating  rifles  like  those  which  these 
robbers  possess,  except  amongst  themselves  —  they  having 
hired  mechanics  to  recover  the  art.  Even  the  guns  yet 
remaining  on  the  Continent  cannot  be  used  because  the 
art  of  making  the  amnmnition  is  lost.  It  was  a  great  mis- 
take to  let  these  pestilent  scoundrels  loose.  Their  state 
threatens  the  whole  cooperative  movement.  Its  existence 
has  greatly  strengthened  the  coUectivists  among  coopera- 
tors,  for  it  is  said  that  the  big  empires  must  be  restored  (on 
cooperative  principles)  to  cope  with  them. 


"Personal  Items  "  record  the  following: 

G.  P.  M.  C.  Lasalle  Brown  last  evening  gave  a  grand  ball 
and  house-warming  in  his  new  house  on  Fifth  Avenue. 
By  demolishing  and  removing  the  unsightly  ruined  houses 
in  the  neighborhood,  a  beautiful  park  and  garden  have 
been  added  to  this  fine  tenement.  It  was  illuminated  last 
evening  by  thousands  of  lamps  and  torches  carried  by  the 
convicts  who  are  under  discipline  in  the  household  of  the 
G.  P.  M.  C.  The  guests  were  members  of  the  Board  of 
Ethical  Control  and  their  families,  some  of  whom,  remem- 
bering their  own  antecedents,  observed  with  interest 
amongst  the  convicts  sons  and  daughters  of  ancient  monopo- 
lists, and  in  some  cases  white-haired  survivals  from  the  age 
of  bankers,  railroad  kings,  and  merchant  princes.  Such 
are  the  revenges  of  history! 

One  hundred  new  carriages  for  the  Board  of  Ethical  Con- 
trol have  just  arrived.  They  are  of  the  most  superb  work- 
manship and  cost  $5000  in  gold  each.  They  belong,  of 
course,  to  the  Commonwealth  and  can  only  be  used  under 
permission  of  the  Board  of  Ethical  Control.  They  have 
been  put,  one  each,  under  the  care  of  separate  members  of 


COOPERATIVE  COMMONWEALTH  457 

the  Board,  as  no  private  individual  is  allowed  to  violate 
equality  by  owning  a  carriage.  We  noticed  with  pleasure 
yesterday  the  families  of  Grand  Cooperators  in  these  car- 
riages in  the  park. 

Non-conformists  and  others  like  them  outside  the  pale  of 
the  Commonwealth  have,  of  late  years,  when  they  found 
their  position  disagreeable,  adopted  the  plan  of  attaching 
themselves  voluntarily  as  retainers  or  vassals  to  coopera- 
tors, especially  to  the  leading  members  of  the  Board  of 
Ethical  Control.  In  this  way  they  secure  some  of  the 
advantages  of  cooperation.  In  order  to  show  their  posi- 
tion and  relationship,  they  wear  special  tokens  or  marks. 
The  clients  of  the  newly  inaugurated  G.  P.  M.  C.  have 
just  been  put  into  uniform  or  livery.  They  attended  him 
in  a  body  on  his  recent  visit  to  his  country  seat  at  River- 
dale,  where  they  did  guard  duty.  Added  to  his  personal 
bodyguard  of  cooperators  and  friends,  they  made  an  im- 
posing body.  This  country-seat,  by  the  way,  has  just  been 
surrounded  by  a  high  stone  wall. 


There  occurs  an  obituary  of  one  of  the  community's 
leading  lights  : 

G.  C.  Brissot  Cunningham  died  at  01  Fifth  Avenue  on 
W^ednesday  last.  He  was  born  May  16,  1905  and  was  edu- 
cated for  a  lawyer.  In  1930,  putting  himself  in  the  fore- 
most rank  of  the  cooperative  movement  and  identifying 
himself  with  the  most  radical  section,  he  was  admitted  to 
the  bar.  By  the  abolition  of  inheritance,  he  found  himself, 
on  the  death  of  his  father  in  the  following  year,  thrown 
entirely  on  his  own  resources.  He  then  passed  through 
some  years  of  obscurity  and  great  poverty,  which  taught 
him  to  feel  for  the  poor. 

Allying  himself  with  the  noble  band  which  supported 
our  present  G.  P.  M.  C,  he  helped  to  bring  about  the  foun- 


458    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

dation  of  the  cooperation  in  1940  and  was  elected  member 
of  the  Board  of  Ethical  Control.  In  the  Board  he  filled 
many  of  the  most  important  and  responsible  positions  on 
the  several  committees  and  was  regularly  reelected.  He 
devoted  himself  to  securing  the  Commonwealth,  flinching 
from  no  measure  to  establish  it.  He  believed  thoroughly 
in  the  motto  "Enjoy."    After  he  became  a  member  of  the 

Board  of  Ethical  Control,  the  former  mansion  of  the s 

on  Fifth  Avenue  was  allotted  to  him  and  furnished  from 
the  Commonwealth  storehouse  of  forfeited  property.  He 
there  kept  up  a  munificent  hospitality  on  the  most  altru- 
istic principles.  He  neither  cared  to  know  whence  his 
income  came  nor  whither  it  went.  In  the  spirit  of  a  true 
cooperator,  whatever  belonged  to  the  Commonwealth  was 
his  and  whatever  was  his  was  free  to  any  cooperator.  His 
popularity  with  the  masses  was  shown  yesterday  when  they 
turned  out  in  a  body  for  his  funeral.  The  non-cooperators 
who  had  felt  his  scourge  were  naturally  absent.  A  few  of 
them  who  could  not  conceal  their  joy  at  his  death  were 
summarily  corrected  by  the  cooperators.  By  his  death  at 
the  early  age  of  forty-five,  our  Commonwealth  has  lost  a 
valuable  supporter. 

[According  to  the  ordinance  adopted  by  the  Board  of 
Ethical  Control,  February  10,  1945,  since  he  died  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Board,  his  family  will  have  a  pension  of  $15,000 
per  annum  in  gold  for  twenty-five  years  and  the  use  of  his 
house  for  the  same  time.  The  Board  will  fill  the  vacancy 
next  week.  —  Editor  of  this  paper.] 


The  Text-book  of  Cooperation,  ordained  by  the  Board  of 
Ethical  Control  for  schools,  is  reviewed  as  follows: 

This  book  is  an  authoritative  exposition  of  the  Coopera- 
tive Commonwealth  in  the  commune  form.  It  is  to  super- 
sede all  other  books  except  the  primer,  writing-book,  and 


COOPERATIVE  COMMONWEALTH  459 

elementary  arithmetic.  We  have  done  with  all  the  ancient 
rubbish.  All  the  books  which  have  not  been  destroyed  are 
under  the  control  of  the  Board  of  Ethical  Control.  Es- 
pecially we  are  now  rid  of  all  pernicious  trash  about  his- 
tory, law,  and  political  economy.  The  present  book 
contains  all  that  a  good  cooperator  needs  to  know.  Its 
tone  is  strictly  ethical.  By  separating  all  children  of  in- 
corrigibles  and  survivals  from  their  parents  and  educating 
them  on  this  book,  we  may  soon  hope  to  bring  all  capitalis- 
tic tradition  to  an  end. 

It  is  plainly  proved  here  that  the  first  right  of  every 
man  and  woman  is  the  right  to  capital.  This  right  is  valid 
up  to  the  time  when  he  or  she  gets  capital,  when  it  becomes 
ethically  subject  to  the  similar  right  of  someone  else,  who 
has  no  capital  as  yet,  to  have  some.  This  principle  carried 
out  is  the  guarantee  of  justice  and  equality  and  is  the  fun- 
damental principle  of  the  Cooperative  Commonwealth  in 
the  middle  of  the  twentieth  century. 

The  text-book  describes  the  organization  of  our  Com- 
monwealth, with  the  duties  of  cooperators,  and  gives  a 
list  of  the  ordinances  of  the  Board  of  Control. 

There  are  now  1000  members  of  the  Board  of  Ethical 
Control  and  10,000  agents  in  their  employ,  chosen  by 
lot  monthly  from  all  cooperators.  The  Board  is  divided 
into  ten  Boards  of  100  each  for  various  branches  of  duty. 
The  members  receive  no  salary  but  are  remunerated  by 
fees.  They  enjoy  no  privileges  or  rights  in  the  Common- 
wealth, but  have  the  duty  of  regulating  all  cooperative 
affairs  according  to  their  conscientious  convictions  of  jus- 
tice. The  ten  chairmen  of  Boards  form  an  exclusive  com- 
mission which  decrees  boycotts  and  plans  of  campaign. 
There  are  no  laws  or  lawyers  in  the  system  and  no  courts 
or  juries  of  the  ancient  type,  now  happily  almost  forgotten. 
There  are  no  police,  no  detectives,  no  army,  no  militia,  and 
no  prisons.  The  ancient  prison  at  Sing  Sing,  which  is  now 


460    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

within  the  limits  of  this  commune,  is  turned  into  a  Cooj>- 
erators'  Retreat.  Under  this  happy  regime  no  cobperator 
can  do  wrong.  Our  only  culprits  are  recalcitrants,  suspects, 
incorrigibles,  survivals,  and  other  would-be  perpetuators  of 
the  old  regime  of  monoply  and  capitalistic  extortion.  Such 
persons  are  compelled  to  expiate  their  selfishness  and  in- 
civism  by  hard  labor,  but  they  are  taken  for  this  purpose 
into  the  households  or  factories  of  the  members  of  the 
Board  of  Ethical  Control,  where  they  are  subject  to  ethical 
discipline  and  produce  those  things  which  are  essential  to 
the  community  and  which  the  Board  of  Ethical  Control 
contracts  to  provide.  The  employments  are  such  as  free 
cooperators  consider  disagreeable,  unhealthy,  or  degrading. 

The  Committee  of  Inquiry  into  Incivism  is  a  committee 
of  the  Board  of  Ethical  Control  and  has  the  high  and  im- 
portant duty  of  watching  over  cooperative  duties.  Its 
number  and  members  are  unknown,  lest  they  should  be 
objects  of  malice.  Its  sessions  and  procedure  are  secret. 
It  employs  100  agents  but  has  a  right  to  command 
the  services  at  any  time  of  all  cooperators.  Com- 
plaints of  incivism  may  be  lodged  night  or  day  by  any 
cooperator  in  the  lion's  mouth  in  the  court  of  the  Coopera- 
tive Hall  (ancient  United  States  postoffice). 

The  Committee  proceeds  against  persons  guilty  of  in- 
civism by  boycotts  chiefly.  This  measure  puts  the  culprit 
outside  the  pale  of  the  Commonwealth  which  he  has 
maligned  or  in  which  he  has  refused  to  take  his  share.  Such 
persons  become  vagabonds,  and  disappear  or  perish. 

The  chapter  on  cooperative  religion  is  in  the  form  of  a 
catechism  and  is  to  be  thoroughly  learned  by  heart  by  all 
pupils.  It  inculcates  the  doctrines  of  our  social  creed  by 
which  each  one  is  bound  to  serve  the  health,  wealth,  and 
happiness  of  every  other.  Those  who  have  the  means  of 
material  enjoyment  shall  put  them  at  the  disposition  and 
use  of  those  who  have  them  not.    It  impresses  above  all  the 


COOPERATIVE   COMMONWEALTH  461 

great  duty  of  civism,  or  conformity  to  cooperative  organiza- 
tion and  obedience  to  the  Board  of  Ethical  Control. 

There  is  complete  equality  and  no  distinction  of  class  in 
the  Cooperative  Commonwealth.  Every  man,  woman,  and 
child  is  eligible  to  the  Board  of  Ethical  Control.  The  only 
distinction  is  of  merit  and  service  to  the  Commonwealth. 
In  this  the  members  of  the  Board  of  Ethical  Control 
stand  first.  There  is  no  second.  Outside  of  the  Coopera- 
tive Committee  are,  in  order  of  demerit  and  detestation, 
probationers  (cooperators  who  have  forfeited  their  coopera- 
tive tickets  for  fault  but  who  may  be  restored  to  member- 
ship), survivals  (employers,  capitalists,  landlords,  usurers, 
subject  to  the  Commonwealth  and  continuing  the  ancient 
functions  of  such  persons),  nonconformists  (stubborn  per- 
sons who  refuse  to  conform  to  the  new  order),  recalcitrants 
(any  of  the  former  who  have  been  subject  to  discipline  five 
times),  incorrigibles  (after  twenty  cases  of  discipline),  sus- 
pects (so  decreed  if  charged  but  not  convicted  of  incivism), 
reactionists  (once  cooperators  but  convicted  of  disorgani- 
zation) and  convicts  (under  boycott  or  plan  of  compaign). 
Every  person  must  be  registered  and  have  always  on  his 
person  a  brass  medal  hung  by  a  chain  about  his  neck, 
bearing  his  designation  and  number,  with  the  letters  desig- 
nating his  group,  domicile,  also  district,  ward,  and  arron- 
dissement.  This  constitutes  his  social  designation.  These 
medals  are  given  out  by  the  Board  of  Ethical  Supervision. 
The  fee  is  1000  cooperative  units,  repeated  each  time  that 
the  person  is  re-classified  and  a  new  medal  issued. 


Advertisements  are  included,  as,  for  example: 

John  Moon,  licensed  to  sell  pistols  and  ammunition. 
A  few  revolvers  newly  imported  from  the  commune  of 
Hartford  at  great  difficulty  and  expense.     Bliss  Bldg. 

Henry  Black,  pistols   and   bowie-knives.      Sales  strictly 


462    THE  FORGOTTEN   MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

within  the  ordinances.  Every  purchaser  required  to  show 
cooperator's  ticket,  and  sales  registered.  268  Felicity 
Boulevard. 

Elias  Israel,  pawn  broker,  loans  at  10%  per  month  on 
cooperative  private  property  only.  Sales  of  forfeited  goods 
every  Sunday.     618  Joy  Avenue. 


The  editor  has  no  compunction  about  publishing  these 
extracts,  though  it  may  be  objected  that  they  can  be  at 
most  of  historical  or  personal  interest.  Perhaps,  in  the 
light  of  the  antics  of  the  Bolsheviki,  even  such  a  parody  as 
the  foregoing  may  seem  less  wide  of  the  potentialities  of 
the  socialistic  system.  In  any  case,  if  modern  socialism 
has  renounced  some  of  the  wild  dreams  of  its  past,  that  is 
largely  owing  to  the  criticism  and  ridicule  poured  upon 
them  by  vigorous  opponents  of  the  Sumner  type.  Says 
a  prominent  American,  writing  to  the  editor  subsequently 
to  the  publication  of  one  of  the  foregoing  volumes  of  this 
series:  "I  have  for  many  years  publicly  and  privately 
urged  socialists  to  read  —  really  read  —  Sumner  —  as  the 
most  doughty  and  competent  foe  with  whom  they  have  to 
reckon." 


THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN 


THE   FORGOTTEN  MAN 

[1883] 

I  PROPOSE  in  this  lecture  to  discuss  one  of  the  most 
subtile  and  widespread  social  fallacies.  It  consists  in 
the  impression  made  on  the  mind  for  the  time  being  by  a 
particular  fact,  or  by  the  interests  of  a  particular  group  of 
persons,  to  which  attention  is  directed  while  other  facts  or 
the  interests  of  other  persons  are  entirely  left  out  of  account. 
I  shall  give  a  number  of  instances  and  illustrations  of  this 
in  a  moment,  and  I  cannot  expect  you  to  understand  what 
is  meant  from  an  abstract  statement  until  these  illustrations 
are  before  you,  but  just  by  way  of  a  general  illustration 
I  will  put  one  or  two  cases. 

WTienever  a  pestilence  like  yellow  fever  breaks  out  in 
any  city,  our  attention  is  especially  attracted  towards  it, 
and  our  sympathies  are  excited  for  the  sufferers.  If  con- 
tributions are  called  for,  we  readily  respond.  Yet  the 
number  of  persons  who  die  prematurely  from  consumption 
every  year  greatly  exceeds  the  deaths  from  yellow  fever 
or  any  similar  disease  when  it  occurs,  and  the  suffering 
entailed  by  consumption  is  very  much  greater.  The  suf- 
fering from  consumption,  however,  never  constitutes  a 
public  question  or  a  subject  of  social  discussion.  If  an 
inundation  takes  place  anywhere,  constituting  a  public 
calamity  (and  an  inundation  takes  place  somewhere  in 
the  civilized  world  nearly  every  year),  public  attention  is 
attracted  and  public  appeals  are  made,  but  the  losses  by 
great  inundations  must  be  insignificant  compared  with  the 
losses  by  runaway  horses,  which,  taken  separately,  scarcely 
obtain  mention  in  a  local  newspaper.     In  hard  times  in- 

465 


466    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

solvent  debtors  are  a  large  class.  They  constitute  an 
interest  and  are  able  to  attract  public  attention,  so  that 
social  philosophers  discuss  their  troubles  and  legislatures 
plan  measures  of  relief.  Insolvent  debtors,  however,  are 
an  insignificant  body  compared  with  the  victims  of  common- 
place misfortune,  or  accident,  who  are  isolated,  scattered, 
ungrouped  and  ungeneralized,  and  so  are  never  made  the 
object  of  discussion  or  relief.  In  seasons  of  ordinary 
prosperity,  persons  who  become  insolvent  have  to  get  out 
of  their  troubles  as  they  can.  They  have  no  hope  of  relief 
from  the  legislature.  The  number  of  insolvents  during  a 
series  of  years  of  general  prosperity,  and  their  losses,  greatly 
exceed  the  number  and  losses  during  a  special  period  of 
distress. 

These  illustrations  bring  out  only  one  side  of  my  sub- 
ject, and  that  only  partially.  It  is  when  we  come  to 
the  proposed  measures  of  relief  for  the  evils  which  have 
caught  public  attention  that  we  reach  the  real  subject 
which  deserves  our  attention.  As  soon  as  A  observes  some- 
thing which  seems  to  him  to  be  wrong,  from  which  X  is 
suffering,  A  talks  it  over  with  B,  and  A  and  B  then  propose 
to  get  a  law  passed  to  remedy  the  evil  and  help  X.  Their 
law  always  proposes  to  determine  what  C  shall  do  for  X 
or,  in  the  better  case,  what  A,  B  and  C  shall  do  for  X.  As 
for  A  and  B,  who  get  a  law  to  make  themselves  do  for  X 
what  they  are  willing  to  do  for  him,  we  have  nothing  to  say 
except  that  they  might  better  have  done  it  without  any 
law,  but  what  I  want  to  do  is  to  look  up  C.  I  want  to 
show  you  what  manner  of  man  he  is.  I  call  him  the 
Forgotten  Man.  Perhaps  the  appellation  is  not  strictly 
correct.  He  is  the  man  who  never  is  thought  of.  He  is 
the  victim  of  the  reformer,  social  speculator  and  philan- 
thropist, and  I  hope  to  show  you  before  I  get  through  that 
he  deserves  your  notice  both  for  his  character  and  for  the 
many  burdens  which  are  laid  upon  him. 


THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  467 

No  doubt  one  great  reason  for  the  phenomenon  which  I 
bring  to  your  attention  is  the  passion  for  reflection  and 
generahzation  which  marks  our  period.  Since  the  printing 
press  has  come  into  such  wide  use,  we  have  all  been  en- 
couraged to  philosophize  about  things  in  a  way  which  was 
unknown  to  our  ancestors.  They  lived  their  lives  out  in 
positive  contact  with  actual  cases  as  they  arose.  They 
had  little  of  this  analysis,  introspection,  reflection  and 
speculation  which  have  passed  into  a  habit  and  almost 
into  a  disease  with  us.  Of  all  things  which  tempt  to  gener- 
alization and  to  philosophizing,  social  topics  stand  foremost. 
Each  one  of  us  gets  some  experience  of  social  forces.  Each 
one  has  some  chance  for  observation  of  social  phenomena. 
There  is  certainly  no  domain  in  which  generalization  is 
easier.  There  is  nothing  about  which  people  dogmatize 
more  freely.  Even  men  of  scientific  training  in  some 
department  in  which  they  would  not  tolerate  dogmatism 
at  all  will  not  hesitate  to  dogmatize  in  the  most  reckless 
manner  about  social  topics.  The  truth  is,  however,  that 
science,  as  yet,  has  won  less  control  of  social  phenomena 
than  of  any  other  class  of  phenomena.  The  most  complex 
and  diflScult  subject  which  we  now  have  to  study  is  the 
constitution  of  human  society,  the  forces  which  operate  in 
it,  and  the  laws  by  which  they  act,  and  we  know  less  about 
these  things  than  about  any  others  which  demand  our 
attention.  In  such  a  state  of  things,  over-hasty  generaliza- 
tion is  sure  to  be  extremely  mischievous.  You  cannot  take 
up  a  magazine  or  newspaper  without  being  struck  by  the 
feverish  interest  with  which  social  topics  and  problems  are 
discussed,  and  if  you  were  a  student  of  social  science,  you 
would  find  in  almost  all  these  discussions  evidence,  not 
only  that  the  essential  preparation  for  the  discussion  is 
wanting,  but  that  the  disputants  do  not  even  know  that 
there  is  any  preparation  to  be  gained.  Consequently  we 
are  bewildered  by  contradictory  dogmatizing.     We  find  in 


468    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

all  these  discussions  only  the  application  of  pet  notions  and 
the  clashing  of  contradictory  "views."  Remedies  are 
confidently  proposed  for  which  there  is  no  guarantee  offered 
except  that  the  person  who  prescribes  the  remedy  says  that 
he  is  sure  it  will  work.  We  hear  constantly  of  "reform," 
and  the  reformers  turn  out  to  be  people  who  do  not  like 
things  as  they  are  and  wish  that  they  could  be  made  nicer. 
We  hear  a  great  many  exhortations  to  make  progress  from 
people  who  do  not  know  in  what  direction  they  want  to  go. 
Consequently  social  reform  is  the  most  barren  and  tire- 
some subject  of  discussion  amongst  us,  except  aesthetics. 

I  suppose  that  the  first  chemists  seemed  to  be  very  hard- 
hearted and  unpoetical  persons  when  they  scouted  the 
glorious  dream  of  the  alchemists  that  there  must  be  some 
process  for  turning  base  metals  into  gold.  I  suppose  that 
the  men  who  first  said,  in  plain,  cold  assertion,  there  is  no 
fountain  of  eternal  youth,  seemed  to  be  the  most  cruel  and 
cold-hearted  adversaries  of  human  happiness.  I  know  that 
the  economists  who  say  that  if  we  could  transmute  lead 
into  gold,  it  would  certainly  do  us  no  good  and  might  do 
great  harm,  are  still  regarded  as  unworthy  of  belief.  Do 
not  the  money  articles  of  the  newspapers  yet  ring  with  the 
doctrine  that  we  are  getting  rich  when  we  give  cotton  and 
wheat  for  gold  rather  than  when  we  give  cotton  and  wheat 
for  iron? 

Let  us  put  down  now  the  cold,  hard  fact  and  look  at  it 
just  as  it  is.  There  is  no  device  whatever  to  be  invented 
for  securing  happiness  without  industry,  economy,  and 
virtue.  We  are  yet  in  the  empirical  stage  as  regards  all 
our  social  devices.  We  have  done  something  in  science  and 
art  in  the  domain  of  production,  transportation  and  ex- 
change. But  when  you  come  to  the  laws  of  the  social 
order,  we  know  very  little  about  them.  Our  laws  and 
institutions  by  which  we  attempt  to  regulate  our  lives  under 
the  laws  of  nature  which  control  society  are  merely  a  series 


THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  469 

of  haphazard  experiments.  We  come  into  collision  with 
the  laws  and  are  not  intelligent  enough  to  understand 
wherein  we  are  mistaken  and  how  to  correct  our  errors. 
We  persist  in  our  experiments  instead  of  patiently  setting 
about  the  study  of  the  laws  and  facts  in  order  to  see  where 
we  are  wrong.  Traditions  and  formulae  have  a  dominion 
over  us  in  legislation  and  social  customs  which  we  seem 
unable  to  break  or  even  to  modify. 

For  my  present  purpose  I  ask  your  attention  for  a  few 
moments  to  the  notion  of  liberty,  because  the  Forgotten 
Man  would  no  longer  be  forgotten  where  there  was  true 
liberty.  You  will  say  that  you  know  what  liberty  is. 
There  is  no  term  of  more  common  or  prouder  use.  None 
is  more  current,  as  if  it  were  quite  beyond  the  need  of 
definition.  Even  as  I  write,  however,  I  find  in  a  leading 
review  a  new  definition  of  civil  liberty.  Civil  liberty  the 
writer  declares  to  be  "the  result  of  the  restraint  exercised 
by  the  sovereign  people  on  the  more  powerful  individuals 
and  classes  of  the  community,  preventing  them  from  availing 
themselves  of  the  excess  of  their  power  to  the  detriment  of 
the  other  classes."  You  notice  here  the  use  of  the  words 
"sovereign  people"  to  designate  a  class  of  the  population, 
not  the  nation  as  a  political  and  civil  whole.  WTierever 
"people"  is  used  in  such  a  sense,  there  is  always  fallacy. 
Furthermore,  you  will  recognize  in  this  definition  a  very 
superficial  and  fallacious  construction  of  English  con- 
stitutional history.  The  writer  goes  on  to  elaborate  that 
construction  and  he  comes  out  at  last  with  the  conclusion 
that  "a  government  by  the  people  can,  in  no  case,  become 
a  paternal  government,  since  its  law-makers  are  its  manda- 
taries and  servants  carrying  out  its  will,  and  not  its  fathers 
or  its  masters."  This,  then,  is  the  point  at  which  he 
desires  to  arrive,  and  he  has  followed  a  familiar  device  in 
setting  up  a  definition  to  start  with  which  would  produce 
the  desired  deduction  at  the  end. 


470    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND   OTHER  ESSAYS 

In  the  definition  the  word  "people"  was  used  for  a 
class  or  section  of  the  population.  It  is  now  asserted 
that  if  that  section  rules,  there  can  be  no  paternal,  that 
is,  undue,  government.  That  doctrine,  however,  is  the 
very  opposite  of  liberty  and  contains  the  most  vicious 
error  possible  in  politics.  The  truth  is  that  cupidity, 
selfishness,  envy,  malice,  lust,  vindictiveness,  are  constant 
vices  of  human  nature.  They  are  not  confined  to  classes 
or  to  nations  or  particular  ages  of  the  world.  They  pre- 
sent themselves  in  the  palace,  in  the  parliament,  in  the 
academy,  in  the  church,  in  the  workshop,  and  in  the 
hovel.  They  appear  in  autocracies,  theocracies,  aristoc- 
racies, democracies,  and  ochlocracies  all  alike.  They 
change  their  masks  somewhat  from  age  to  age  and  from  one 
form  of  society  to  another.  All  history  is  only  one  long 
story  to  this  effect:  men  have  struggled  for  power  over 
their  fellow-men  in  order  that  they  might  win  the  joys  of 
earth  at  the  expense  of  others  and  might  shift  the  burdens 
of  life  from  their  own  shoulders  upon  those  of  others.  It  is 
true  that,  until  this  time,  the  proletariat,  the  mass  of 
mankind,  have  rarely  had  the  power  and  they  have  not 
made  such  a  record  as  kings  and  nobles  and  priests  have 
made  .of  the  abuses  they  would  perpetrate  against  their 
fellow-men  when  they  could  and  dared.  But  what  folly 
it  is  to  think  that  vice  and  passion  are  limited  by  classes, 
that  liberty  consists  only  in  taking  power  away  from  nobles 
and  priests  and  giving  it  to  artisans  and  peasants  and  that 
these  latter  will  never  abuse  it!  They  will  abuse  it  just  as 
all  others  have  done  unless  they  are  put  under  checks  and 
guarantees,  and  there  can  be  no  civil  liberty  anywhere 
unless  rights  are  guaranteed  against  all  abuses,  as  well  from 
proletarians  as  from  generals,  aristocrats,  and  ecclesiastics. 

Now  what  has  been  amiss  in  all  the  old  arrangements.'' 
The  evils  of  the  old  military  and  aristocratic  governments 
was  that  some  men  enjoyed  the  fruits  of  other  men's  labor; 


THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  471 

that  some  persons'   lives,   rights,   interests   and  happmess 
were  sacrificed  to  other  persons'  cupidity  and  lust.     What 
have  our  ancestors  been  striving  for,  under  the  name  of 
civil  liberty,  for  the  last  five  hundred  years?     They  have 
been  striving  to  bring  it  about  that  each  man  and  woman 
might  five  out  his  or  her  life  according  to  his  or  her  own 
notions  of  happiness  and  up  to  the  measure  of  his  or  her 
own  virtue  and  wisdom.     How  have  they  sought  to  accom- 
plish this.?*     They  have  sought  to  accomplish  it  by  setting 
aside  all  arbitrary  personal  or  class  elements  and  introducing 
the  reign  of  law  and  the  supremacy  of  constitutional  institu- 
tions  like  the  jury,   the  habeas   corpus,   the  independent 
judiciary,    the   separation   of   church   and   state,    and   the 
ballot.     Note  right  here  one  point  which  will  be  important 
and  valuable  when  I  come  more  especially  to  the  case  of 
the  Forgotten  Man :  whenever  you  talk  of  liberty,  you  must 
have  two  men  in  mind.     The  sphere  of  rights  of  one  of  these 
men  trenches  upon  that  of  the  other,  and  whenever  you 
establish  liberty  for  the  one,  you  repress  the  other.     When- 
ever  absolute   sovereigns    are   subjected   to   constitutional 
restraints,  you  always  hear  them  remonstrate  that  their 
liberty  is  curtailed.     So  it  is,  in  the  sense  that  their  power 
of  determining  what  shall  be  done  in  the  state  is  limited 
below  what  it  was  before  and  the  similar  power  of  other 
organs  in  the  state  is  widened.     WTienever  the  privileges 
of  an  aristocracy  are   curtailed,   there  is  heard  a   similar 
complaint.     The  truth  is  that  the  line  of  limit  or  demarca- 
tion between  classes  as  regards  civil  power  has  been  moved 
and  what  has  been  taken  from  one  class  is  given  to  another. 
We  may  now,  then,  advance  a  step  in  our  conception  of 
civil  liberty.     It  is  the  status  in  which  we  find  the  true 
adjustment    of    rights    between    classes    and    individuals. 
Historically,  the  conception  of  civil  liberty  has  been  con- 
stantly changing.     The  notion  of  rights  changes  from  one 
generation  to  another  and  the  conception  of  civil  liberty 


472     THE  FORGOTTEN   MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

changes  with  it.  If  we  try  to  formulate  a  true  definition  of 
civil  liberty  as  an  ideal  thing  towards  w^hich  the  develop- 
ment of  political  institutions  is  all  the  time  tending,  it 
would  be  this:  Civil  liberty  is  the  status  of  the  man  who  is 
guaranteed  by  law  and  civil  institutions  the  exclusive  em- 
ployment of  all  his  own  powers  for  his  own  welfare. 

This  definition  of  liberty  or  civil  liberty,  you  see,  deals 
only  with  concrete  and  actual  relations  of  the  civil  order. 
There  is  some  sort  of  a  poetical  and  metaphysical  notion  of 
liberty  afloat  in  men's  minds  which  some  people  dream 
about  but  which  nobody  can  define.  In  popular  language 
it  means  that  a  man  may  do  as  he  has  a  mind  to.  AMien 
people  get  this  notion  of  liberty  into  their  heads  and  combine 
with  it  the  notion  that  they  live  in  a  free  country  and  ought 
to  have  liberty,  they  sometimes  make  strange  demands 
upon  the  state.  If  liberty  means  to  be  able  to  do  as  you 
have  a  mind  to,  there  is  no  such  thing  in  this  world.  Can 
the  Czar  of  Russia  do  as  he  has  a  mind  to.'*  Can  the  Pope 
do  as  he  has  a  mind  to.'*  Can  the  President  of  the  United 
States  do  as  he  has  a  mind  to?  Can  Rothschild  do  as  he 
has  a  mind  to?  Could  a  Humboldt  or  a  Faraday  do  as  he 
had  a  mind  to?  Could  a  Shakespeare  or  a  Raphael  do  as 
he  had  a  mind  to?  Can  a  tramp  do  as  he  has  a  mind  to? 
Where  is  the  man,  whatever  his  station,  possessions,  or 
talents,  who  can  get  any  such  liberty?  There  is  none. 
There  is  a  doctrine  floating  about  in  our  literature  that  we 
are  born  to  the  inheritance  of  certain  rights.  That  is  an- 
other glorious  dream,  for  it  would  mean  that  there  was 
something  in  this  world  which  we  got  for  nothing.  But 
what  is  the  truth?  We  are  born  into  no  right  whatever  but 
what  has  an  equivalent  and  corresponding  duty  right  along- 
side of  it.  There  is  no  such  thing  on  this  earth  as  something 
for  nothing.  Whatever  we  inherit  of  wealth,  knowledge, 
or  institutions  from  the  past  has  been  paid  for  by  the  labor 
and  sacrifice  of  preceding  generations;    and  the  fact  that 


THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  473 

these  gains  are  carried  on,  that  the  race  lives  and  that  the 
race  can,  at  least  within  some  cycle,  accumulate  its  gains, 
is  one  of  the  facts  on  which  civilization  rests.  The  law  of 
the  conservation  of  energy  is  not  simply  a  law  of  physics; 
it  is  a  law  of  the  whole  moral  universe,  and  the  order  and 
truth  of  all  things  conceivable  by  man  depends  upon  it.  ^ 
If  there  Were  any  such  liberty  as  that  of  doing  as  you  have 
a  mind  to,  the  human  race  would  be  condemned  to  ever- 
lasting anarchy  and  war  as  these  erratic  wills  crossed  and 
clashed  against  each  other.  True  Hberty  lies  in  the  equi- 
librium of  rights  and  duties,  producing  peace,  order,  and 
^^armony.  As  I  have  defined  it,  it  means  that  a  man's 
righL-to  take  power  and  wealth  out  of  the  social  product  is 
mea.siired_by_ihe  energy  and. wisdoni  which  he  has  con- 
tributed to  the  social  effort. 

Now  if  I  have  set  this  idea  before  you  with  any  distinct- 
ness and  success,  you  see  that  civil  liberty  consists  of  a  set 
of  civil  institutions  and  laws  which  are  arranged  to  act  as 
impersonally  as  possible.  It  does  not  consist  in  majority 
rule  or  in  universal  suffrage  or  in  elective  systems  at  all. 
These  are  devices  which  are  good  or  better  just  in  the 
degree  in  which  they  secure  liberty.  The  institutions  of 
civil  liberty  leave  each  man  to  run  his  career  in  life  in  his 
own  way,  only  guaranteeing  to  him  that  whatever  he  does 
in  -the  way  of  industry,  economy,  prudence,  sound  judg- 
ment, etc.,  shall  redound  to  his  own  welfare  and  shall  not 
be  diverted  to  some  one  else's  benefit.  Of  course  it  is  a 
necessary  corollary  that  each  man  shall  also  bear  the 
penalty  of  his  own  vices  and  his  own  mistakes.  If  I  want 
to  be  free  from  any  other  man's  dictation,  I  must  under- 
stand that  I  can  have  no  other  man  under  my  control. 

Now  with  these  definitions  and  general  conceptions  in 
mind,  let  us  turn  to  the  special  class  of  facts  to  which,  as 
I  said  at  the  outset,  I  invite  your  attention.  We  see  that 
under  a  regime  of  liberty  and  equality  before  the  law,  we 


474    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

get  the  highest  possible  development  of  independence, 
self-reliance,  individual  energy,  and  enterprise,  but  we  get 
these  high  social  virtues  at  the  expense  of  the  old  senti- 
mental ties  which  used  to  unite  baron  and  retainer,  master 
and  servant,  sage  and  disciple,  comrade  and  comrade. 
We  are  agreed  that  the  son  shall  not  be  disgraced  even  by 
the  crime  of  the  father,  much  less  by  the  crime  of  a  more 
distant  relative.  It  is  a  humane  and  rational  view  of 
things  that  each  life  shall  stand  for  itself  alone  and  not  be 
weighted  by  the  faults  of  another,  but  it  is  useless  to  deny 
that  this  view  of  things  is  possible  only  in  a  society  where 
the  ties  of  kinship  have  lost  nearly  all  the  intensity  of 
poetry  and  romance  which  once  characterized  them.  The 
ties  of  sentiment  and  sympathy  also  have  faded  out.  We 
have  come,  under  the  regime  of  liberty  and  equality  before 
the  law,  to  a  form  of  society  which  is  based  not  on  status, 
but  on  free  contract.  Now  a  society  based  on  status  is 
one  in  which  classes,  ranks,  interests,  industries,  guilds, 
associations,  etc.,  hold  men  in  permanent  relations  to  each 
other.  Custom  and  prescription  create,  under  status,  ties, 
the  strength  of  which  lies  in  sentiment.  Feeble  remains  of 
this  may  be  seen  in  some  of  our  academical  societies  to-day, 
and  it  is  unquestionably  a  great  privilege  and  advantage 
for  any  man  in  our  society  to  win  an  experience  of  the 
sentiments  which  belong  to  a  strong  and  close  association, 
just  because  the  chances  for  such  experience  are  nowadays 
very  rare.  In  a  society  based  on  free  contract,  men  come 
together  as  free  and  independent  parties  to  an  agreement 
which  is  of  mutual  advantage.  The  relation  is  rational, 
even  rationalistic.  It  is  not  poetical.  It  does  not  exist 
from  use  and  custom,  but  for  reasons  given,  and  it  does  not 
endure  by  prescription  but  ceases  when  the  reason  for  it 
ceases.  There  is  no  sentiment  in  it  at  all.  The  fact  is 
that,  under  the  regime  of  liberty  and  equality  before  the 
law,  there  is  no  place  for  sentiment  in  trade  or  politics  as 


THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  475 

public  interests.  Sentiment  is  thrown  back  into  private 
life,  into  personal  relations,  and  if  ever  it  comes  into  a 
public  discussion  of  an  impersonal  and  general  public 
question  it  always  produces  mischief. 

Now  you  know  that  "the  poor  and  the  weak"  are  con- 
tinually put  forward  as  objects  of  public  interest  and  public 
obligation.  In  the  appeals  which  are  made,  the  terms 
"the  poor"  and  "the  weak"  are  used  as  if  they  were  terms 
of  exact  definition.  Except  the  pauper,  that  is  to  say, 
the  man  who  cannot  earn  his  living  or  pay  his  way,  there 
is  no  possible  definition  of  a  poor  man.  Except  a  man  who 
is  incapacitated  by  vice  or  by  physical  infirmity,  there  is  no 
definition  of  a  weak  man.  The  paupers  and  the  physically 
incapacitated  are  an  inevitable  charge  on  society.  About 
them  no  more  need  be  said.  But  the  weak  who  constantly 
arouse  the  pity  of  humanitarians  and  philanthropists  are 
the  shiftless,  the  imprudent,  the  negligent,  the  impractical, 
and  the  inefficient,  or  they  are  the  idle,  the  intemperate,  the 
extravagant,  and  the  vicious.  Now  the  troubles  of  these 
persons  are  constantly  forced  upon  public  attention,  as  if 
they  and  their  interests  deserved  especial  consideration, 
and  a  great  portion  of  all  organized  and  unorganized  effort 
for  the  common  welfare  consists  in  attempts  to  relieve  these 
classes  of  people.  I  do  not  wish  to  be  understood  now  as 
saying  that  nothing  ought  to  be  done  for  these  people  by 
those  who  are  stronger  and  wiser.  That  is  not  my  point. 
^Miat  I  want  to  do  is  to  point  out  the  thing  which  is  over- 
looked and  the  error  which  is  made  in  all  these  charitable 
efforts.  The  notion  is  accepted  as  if  it  were  not  open  to 
any  question  that  if  you  help  the  inefficient  and  vicious  you 
may  gain  something  for  society  or  you  may  not,  but  that 
you  lose  nothing.  This  is  a  complete  mistake.  Whatever 
capital  you  divert  to  the  support  of  a  shiftless  and  good- 
for-nothing  person  is  so  much  diverted  from  some  other 
employment,    and    that    means    from    somebody .  else.     I 


476    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

would  spend  any  conceivable  amount  of  zeal  and  eloquence 
if  I  possessed  it  to  try  to  make  people  grasp  this  idea. 
Capital  is  force.  If  it  goes  one  way  it  cannot  go  another. 
If  you  give  a  loaf  to  a  pauper  you  cannot  give  the  same 
loaf  to  a  laborer.  Now  this  other  man  who  would  have 
got  it  but  for  the  charitable  sentiment  which  bestowed  it 
on  a  worthless  member  of  society  is  the  Forgotten  IVIan. 
The  philanthropists  and  humanitarians  have  their  minds 
all  full  of  the  wretched  and  miserable  whose  case  appeals 
to  compassion,  attacks  the  sympathies,  takes  possession  of 
the  imagination,  and  excites  the  emotions.  They  push  on 
towards  the  quickest  and  easiest  remedies  and  they  forget 
the  real  victim. 

Now  who  is  the  Forgotten  Man?  He  is  the  simple, 
honest  laborer,  ready  to  earn  his  living  by  productive 
work.  We  pass  him  by  because  he  is  independent,  self- 
supporting,  and  asks  no  favors.  He  does  not  appeal  to 
the  emotions  or  excite  the  sentiments.  He  only  wants 
to  make  a  contract  and  fulfill  it,  with  respect  on  both 
sides  and  favor  on  neither  side.  He  must  get  his  living 
out  of  the  capital  of  the  country.  The  larger  the  capital 
is,  the  better  living  he  can  get.  Every  particle  of  capital 
which  is  wasted  on  the  vicious,  the  idle,  and  the  shiftless  is 
so  much  taken  from  the  capital  available  to  reward  the 
independent  and  productive  laborer.  But  we  stand  with 
our  backs  to  the  independent  and  productive  laborer  all 
the  time.  We  do  not  remember  him  because  he  makes  no 
clamor;  but  I  appeal  to  you  whether  he  is  not  the  man  who 
ought  to  be  remembered  first  of  all,  and  whether,  on  any 
sound  social  theory,  we  ought  not  to  protect  him  against 
the  burdens  of  the  good-for-nothing.  In  these  last  years  I 
have  read  hundreds  of  articles  and  heard  scores  of  sermons 
and  speeches  which  were  really  glorifications  of  the  good- 
for-nothing,  as  if  these  were  the  charge  of  society,  recom- 
mended by  right  reason  to  its   care  and  protection.     We 


THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  477 

are  addressed  all  the  time  as  if  those  who  are  respectable 
were  to  blame  because  some  are  not  so,  and  as  if  there  were 
an  obligation  on  the  part  of  those  who  have  done  their 
duty  towards  those  who  have  not  done  their  duty.  Every 
man  is  bound  to  take  care  of  himself  and  his  family  and  to 
do  his  share  in  the  work  of  society.  It  is  totally  false  that 
one  who  has  ^lone  so  is  bound  to  bear  the  care  and  charge 
of  those  who  are  wretched  because  they  have  not  done  so. 
The  silly  popular  notion  is  that  the  beggars  live  at  the 
expense  of  the  rich,  but  the  truth  is  that  those  who  eat  and 
produce  not,  live  at  the  expense  of  those  who  labor  and 
produce.  The  next  time  that  you  are  tempted  to  subscribe 
a  dollar  to  a  charity,  I  do  not  tell  you  not  to  do  it,  because 
after  you  have  fairly  considered  the  matter,  you  may  think 
it  right  to  do  it,  but  I  do  ask  you  to  stop  and  remember 
the  Forgotten  Man  and  understand  that  if  you  put  your 
dollar  in  the  savings  bank  it  will  go  to  swell  the  capital  of 
the  country  which  is  available  for  division  amongst  those 
who,  while  they  earn  it,  will  reproduce  it  with  increase. 

Let  us  now  go  on  to  another  class  of  cases.  There  are  a 
great  many  schemes  brought  forward  for  "improving  the 
condition  of  the  working  classes."  I  have  shown  already 
that  a  free  man  cannot  take  a  favor.  One  who  takes  a 
favor  or  submits  to  patronage  demeans  himself.  He  falls 
under  obligation.  He  cannot  be  free  and  he  cannot  assert 
a  station  of  equality  with  the  man  who  confers  the  favor  on 
him.  The  only  exception  is  where  there  are  exceptional 
bonds  of  affection  or  friendship,  that  is,  where  the  senti- 
mental relation  supersedes  the  free  relation.  Therefore, 
in  a  country  which  is  a  free  democracy,  all  propositions  to 
do  something  for  the  working  classes  have  an  air  of  patronage 
and  superiority  which  is  impertinent  and  out  of  place.  No 
one  can  do  anything  for  anybody  else  unless  he  has  a  surplus 
of  energy  to  dispose  of  after  taking  care  of  himself.  In  the 
United  States,  the  working  classes,  technically  so  called. 


478    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

are  the  strongest  classes.  It  is  they  who  have  a  surplus  to 
dispose  of  if  anybody  has.  WTiy  should  anybody  else  offer 
to  take  care  of  them  or  to  serve  them.'^  They  can  get  what- 
ever they  think  worth  having  and,  at  any  rate,  if  they  are 
free  men  in  a  free  state,  it  is  ignominious  and  unbecoming 
to  introduce  fashions  of  patronage  and  favoritism  here. 
A  man  who,  by  superior  education  and  experience  of  busi- 
ness, is  in  a  position  to  advise  a  struggling  man  of  the 
wages  class,  is  certainly  held  to  do  so  and  will,  I  believe, 
always  be  willing  and  glad  to  do  so;  but  this  sort  of  activity 
lies  in  the  range  of  private  and  personal  relations. 

I  now,  however,  desire  to  direct  attention  to  the  public, 
general,  and  impersonal  schemes,  and  I  point  out  the  fact 
that,  if  you  undertake  to  lift  anybody,  you  must  have  a 
fulcrum  or  point  of  resistance.  All  the  elevation  you  give 
to  one  must  be  gained  by  an  equivalent  depression  on  some 
one  else.  The  question  of  gain  to  society  depends  upon  the 
balance  of  the  account,  as  regards  the  position  of  the  persons 
who  undergo  the  respective  operations.  But  nearly  all  the 
schemes  for  "improving  the  condition  of  the  working 
man"  involve  an  elevation  of  some  working  men  at  the 
expense  of  other  working  men.  When  you  expend  capital 
or  labor  to  elevate  some  persons  who  come  within  the 
sphere  of  your  influence,  you  interfere  in  the  conditions  of 
competition.  The  advantage  of  some  is  won  by  an  equiva- 
lent loss  of  others.  The  difference  is  not  brought  about 
by  the  energy  and  effort  of  the  persons  themselves.  If  it 
were,  there  would  be  nothing  to  be  said  about  it,  for  we 
constantly  see  people  surpass  others  in  the  rivalry  of  life 
and  carry  off  the  prizes  which  the  others  must  do  without. 
In  the  cases  I  am  discussing,  the  difference  is  brought  about 
by  an  interference  which  must  be  partial,  arbitrary,  acci- 
dental, controlled  by  favoritism  and  personal  preference. 
I  do  not  say,  in  this  case,  either,  that  we  ought  to  do  no 
work  of  this  kind.     On  the  contrary,  I  believe  that  the 


THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  479 

arguments  for  it  quite  outweigh,  in  many  cases,  the  argu- 
ments against  it.  What  I  desire,  again,  is  to  bring  out  the 
forgotten  element  which  we  always  need  to  remember  in 
order  to  make  a  wise  decision  as  to  any  scheme  of  this 
kind.  I  want  to  call  to  mind  the  Forgotten  Man,  because, 
in  this  case  also,  if  we  recall  him  and  go  to  look  for  him,  we 
shall  find  him  patiently  and  perseveringly,  manfully  and 
independently  struggling  against  adverse  circumstances 
without  complaining  or  begging.  If,  then,  we  are  led  to 
heed  the  groaning  and  complaining  of  others  and  to  take 
measures  for  helping  these  others,  we  shall,  before  we  know 
it,  push  down  this  man  who  is  trying  to  help  himself. 

Let  us  take  another  class  of  cases.  So  far  we  have  said 
nothing  about  the  abuse  of  legislation.  We  all  seem  to  be 
under  the  delusion  that  the  rich  pay  the  taxes.  Taxes  are 
not  thrown  upon  the  consumers  with  any  such  directness 
and  completeness  as  is  sometimes  assumed;  but  that,  in 
ordinary  states  of  the  market,  taxes  on  houses  fall,  for  the 
most  part,  on  the  tenants  and  that  taxes  on  commodities 
fall,  for  the  most  part,  on  the  consumers,  is  beyond  question. 
Now  the  state  and  municipality  go  to  great  expense  to 
support  policemen  and  sheriffs  and  judicial  ojSicers,  to 
protect  people  against  themselves,  that  is,  against  the 
results  of  their  own  folly,  vice,  and  recklessness.  Who 
pays  for  it.^  Undoubtedly  the  people  who  have  not  been 
guilty  of  folly,  vice,  or  recklessness.  Out  of  nothing  comes 
nothing.  We  cannot  collect  taxes  from  people  who  produce 
nothing  and  save  nothing.  The  people  who  have  some- 
thing to  tax  must  be  those  who  have  produced  and  saved. 

When  you  see  a  drunkard  in  the  gutter,  you  are  dis- 
gusted, but  you  pity  him.  When  a  policeman  comes  and 
picks  him  up  you  are  satisfied.  You  say  that  "society" 
has  interfered  to  save  the  drunkard  from  perishing.  Society 
is  a  fine  word,  and  it  saves  us  the  trouble  of  thinking  to  say 
that  society  acts.     The  truth  is  that  the  policeman  is  paid 


480    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

by  somebody,  and  when  we  talk  about  society  we  forget 
who  it  is  that  pays.  It  is  the  Forgotten  Man  again.  It  is 
the  industrious  workman  going  home  from  a  hard  day's 
work,  whom  you  pass  without  noticing,  who  is  mulcted 
of  a  percentage  of  his  day's  earnings  to  hire  a  policeman  to 
save  the  drunkard  from  himself.  All  the  public  expenditure 
to  prevent  vice  has  the  same  effect.  Vice  is  its  own  curse. 
If  we  let  nature  alone,  she  cures  vice  by  the  most  frightful 
penalties.  It  may  shock  you  to  hear  me  say  it,  but  when 
you  get  over  the  shock,  it  will  do  you  good  to  think  of  it: 
a  drunkard  in  the  gutter  is  just  where  he  ought  to  be. 
Nature  is  working  away  at  him  to  get  him  out  of  the  way, 
just  as  she  sets  up  her  processes  of  dissolution  to  remove 
whatever  is  a  failure  in  its  line.  Gambling  and  less  men- 
tionable  vices  all  cure  themselves  by  the  ruin  and  dissolu- 
tion of  their  victims.  Nine- tenths  of  our  measures  for 
preventing  vice  are  really  protective  towards  it,  because 
they  ward  off  the  penalty.  "Ward  off,"  I  say,  and  that  is 
the  usual  way  of  looking  at  it;  but  is  the  penalty  really 
annihilated?  By  no  means.  It  is  turned  into  police  and 
court  expenses  and  spread  over  those  who  have  resisted 
vice.  It  is  the  Forgotten  Man  again  who  has  been  sub- 
jected to  the  penalty  while  our  minds  were  full  of  the 
drunkards,  spendthrifts,  gamblers,  and  other  victims  of 
dissipation.  Who  is,  then,  the  Forgotten  Man.?  He  is  the 
clean,  quiet,  virtuous,  domestic  citizen,  who  pays  his  debts 
and  his  taxes  and  is  never  heard  of  out  of  his  little  circle. 
Yet  who  is  there  in  the  society  of  a  civilized  state  who 
deserves  to  be  remembered  and  considered  by  the  legislator 
and  statesman  before  this  man? 

Another  class  of  cases  is  closely  connected  with  this  last. 
There  is  an  apparently  invincible  prejudice  in  people's 
minds  in  favor  of  state  regulation.  All  experience  is  against 
state  regulation  and  in  •  favor  of  liberty.  The  freer  the 
civil  institutions  are,  the  more  weak  or  mischievous  state 


THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  481 

regulation  is.  The  Prussian  bureaucracy  can  do  a  score  of 
things  for  the  citizen  which  no  governmental  organ  in  the 
United  States  can  do;  and,  conversely,  if  we  want  to  be 
taken  care  of  as  Prussians  and  Frenchmen  are,  we  must 
give  up  something  of  our  personal  liberty. 

Now  we  have  a  great  many  well-intentioned  people 
among  us  who  believe  that  they  are  serving  their  country 
when  they  discuss  plans  for  regulating  the  relations  of 
employer  and  employee,  or  the  sanitary  regulations  of 
dwellings,  or  the  construction  of  factories,  or  the  way 
to  behave  on  Sunday,  or  what  people  ought  not  to  eat 
or  drink  or  smoke.  All  this  is  harmless  enough  and  well 
enough  as  a  basis  of  mutual  encouragement  and  mis- 
sionary enterprise,  but  it  is  almost  always  made  a  basis 
of  legislation.  The  reformers  want  to  get  a  majority, 
that  is,  to  get  the  power  of  the  state  and  so  to  make 
other  people  do  what  the  reformers  think  it  right  and 
wise  to  do.  A  and  B  agree  to  spend  Sunday  in  a  cer- 
tain way.  They  get  a  law  passed  to  make  C  pass  it  in 
their  way.  They  determine  to  be  teetotallers  and  they  get 
a  law  passed  to  make  C  be  a  teetotaller  for  the  sake  of  D 
who  is  likely  to  drink  too  much.  Factory  acts  for  women 
and  children  are  right  because  w^omen  and  children  are  not 
on  an  equal  footing  wuth  men  and  cannot,  therefore,  make 
contracts  properly.  Adult  men,  in  a  free  state,  must  be 
left  to  make  their  own  contracts  and  defend  themselves. 
It  will  not  do  to  say  that  some  men  are  weak  and  unable  to 
make  contracts  any  better  than  women.  Our  civil  institu- 
tions assume  that  all  men  are  equal  in  political  capacity  and 
all  are  given  equal  measure  of  political  power  and  right, 
which  is  not  the  case  with  women  and  children.  If,  then, 
we  measure  political  rights  by  one  theory  and  social  respon- 
sibilities by  another,  we  produce  an  immoral  and  vicious 
relation.  A  and  B,  however,  get  factory  acts  and  other 
acts  passed  regulating  the  relation  of  employers  and  em- 


482    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

ployee  and  set  armies  of  commissioners  and  inspectors 
traveling  about  to  see  to  things,  instead  of  using  their 
efforts,  if  any  are  needed,  to  lead  the  free  men  to  make 
their  own  conditions  as  to  what  kind  of  factory  buildings 
they  will  work  in,  how  many  hours  they  will  work,  what  they 
will  do  on  Sunday  and  so  on.  The  consequence  is  that 
men  lose  the  true  education  in  freedom  which  is  needed  to 
support  free  institutions.  They  are  taught  to  rely  on 
government  officers  and  inspectors.  The  whole  system  of 
government  inspectors  is  corrupting  to  free  institutions. 
In  England,  the  liberals  used  always  to  regard  state  regula- 
tion with  suspicion,  but  since  they  have  come  to  power, 
they  plainly  believe  that  state  regulation  is  a  good  thing  — 
if  they  regulate  —  because,  of  course,  they  want  to  bring 
about  good  things.  In  this  country  each  party  takes 
turns,  according  as  it  is  in  or  out,  in  supporting  or  denounc- 
ing the  non-interference  theory. 

Now,  if  we  have  state  regulation,  what  is  always  for- 
gotten is  this:  Who  pays  for  it.-^  Who  is  the  victim  of  it.^^ 
There  always  is  a  victim.  The  workmen  who  do  not 
defend  themselves  have  to  pay  for  the  inspectors  who 
defend  them.  The  whole  system  of  social  regulation  by 
boards,  commissioners,  and  inspectors  consists  in  relieving 
negligent  people  of  the  consequences  of  their  negligence  and 
so  leaving  them  to  continue  negligent  without  correction. 
That  system  also  turns  away  from  the  agencies  which  are 
close,  direct,  and  germane  to  the  purpose,  and  seeks  others. 
Now,  if  you  relieve  negligent  people  of  the  consequences  of 
their  negligence,  you  can  only  throw  those  consequences  on 
the  people  who  have  not  been  negligent.  If  you  turn 
away  from  the  agencies  which  are  direct  and  cognate  to 
the  purpose,  you  can  only  employ  other  agencies.  Here, 
then,  you  have  your  Forgotten  Man  again.  The  man 
who  has  been  careful  and  prudent  and  who  wants  to  go  on 
and  reap  his  advantages  for  himself  and  his  children  is 


THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  483 

arrested  just  at  that  point,  and  he  is  told  that  he  must  go 
and  take  care  of  some  negligent  employees  in  a  factory  or 
on  a  railroad  who  have  not  provided  precautions  for  them- 
selves or  have  not  forced  their  employers  to  provide  pre- 
cautions, or  negligent  tenants  who  have  not  taken  care  of 
their  own  sanitary  arrangements,  or  negligent  householders 
who  have  not  provided  against  fire,  or  negligent  parents 
who  have  not  sent  their  children  to  school.  If  the  For- 
gotten INIan  does  not  go,  he  must  hire  an  inspector  to  go. 
No  doubt  it  is  often  worth  his  while  to  go  or  send,  rather 
than  leave  the  thing  undone,  on  account  of  his  remoter 
interest;  but  what  I  want  to  show  is  that  all  this  is  unjust 
to  the  Forgotten  Man,  and  that  the  reformers  and  phi- 
losophers miss  the  point  entirely  when  they  preach  that  it  is 
his  duty  to  do  all  this  work.  Let  them  preach  to  the 
negligent  to  learn  to  take  care  of  themselves.  Whenever 
A  and  B  put  their  heads  together  and  decide  what  A,  B  and 
C  must  do  for  D,  there  is  never  any  pressure  on  A  and  B. 
They  consent  to  it  and  like  it.  There  is  rarely  any  pressure 
on  D  because  he  does  not  like  it  and  contrives  to  evade  it. 
The  pressure  all  comes  on  C.  Now,  who  is  C?  He  is 
always  the  man  who,  if  let  alone,  would  make  a  reasonable 
use  of  his  liberty  without  abusing  it.  He  would  not  con- 
stitute any  social  problem  at  all  and  would  not  need  any 
regulation.  He  is  the  Forgotten  Man  again,  and  as  soon  as 
he  is  brought  from  his  obscurity  you  see  that  he  is  just  that 
one  amongst  us  who  is  what  we  all  ought  to  be. 

Let  us  look  at  another  case.  I  read  again  and  again 
arguments  to  prove  that  criminals  have  claims  and  rights 
against  society.  Not  long  ago,  I  read  an  account  of  an 
expensive  establishment  for  the  reformation  of  criminals, 
and  I  am  told  that  we  ought  to  reform  criminals,  not  merely 
punish  them  vindictively.  Wlien  I  was  a  young  man,  I 
read  a  great  many  novels  by  Eugene  Sue,  Victor  Hugo, 
and  other  Frenchmen  of  the  school  of  '48,  in  which  the 


484    THE  FORGOTTEN  IVIAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

badness  of  a  bad  man  is  represented,  not  as  his  fault,  but 
as  the  fault  of  society.  Now,  as  society  consists  of  the  bad 
men  plus  the  good  men,  and  as  the  object  of  this  declaration 
was  to  show  that  the  badness  of  the  bad  men  was  not  the 
fault  of  the  bad  men,  it  remains  that  the  badness  of  the 
bad  men  must  be  the  fault  of  the  good  men.  No  doubt,  it 
is  far  more  consoling  to  the  bad  men  than  even  to  their 
friends  to  reach  the  point  of  this  demonstration. 

Let  us  ask,  now,  for  a  moment,  what  is  the  sense  of 
punishment,  since  a  good  many  people  seem  to  be  quite  in 
a  muddle  about  it.  Every  man  in  society  is  bound  in 
nature  and  reason  to  contribute  to  the  strength  and  welfare 
of  society.  He  ought  to  work,  to  be  peaceful,  honest,  just, 
and  virtuous.  A  criminal  is  a  man  who,  instead  of  working 
with  and  for  society,  turns  his  efforts  against  the  common 
welfare  in  some  way  or  other.  He  disturbs  order,  violates 
harmony,  invades  the  security  and  happiness  of  others, 
wastes  and  destroys  capital.  K  he  is  put  to  death,  it  is 
on  the  ground  that  he  has  forfeited  ail  right  to  existence  in 
society  by  the  magnitude  of  his  offenses  against  its  welfare. 
If  he  is  imprisoned,  it  is  simply  a  judgment  of  society  upon 
him  that  he  is  so  mischievous  to  the  society  that  he  must 
be  segregated  from  it.  His  punishment  is  a  warning  to 
him  to  reform  himself,  just  exactly  like  the  penalties  in- 
flicted by  God  and  nature  on  vice.  A  man  who  has  com- 
mitted crime  is,  therefore,  a  burden  on  society  and  an 
injury  to  it.  He  is  a  destructive  and  not  a  productive  force 
and  everybody  is  worse  off  for  his  existence  than  if  he  did 
not  exist.  Whence,  then,  does  he  obtain  a  right  to  be 
taught  or  reformed  at  the  public  expense?  The  whole 
question  of  what  to  do  with  him  is  one  of  expediency,  and 
it  embraces  the  whole  range  of  possible  policies  from  that 
of  execution  to  that  of  education  and  reformation,  but 
when  the  expediency  of  reformatory  attempts  is  discussed 
we  always  forget  the  labor  and  expense  and  who  must  pay. 


THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  485 

All  that  the  state  does  for  the  criminal,  beyond  forcing  him 
to  earn  his  living,  is  done  at  the  expense  of  the  industrious 
member  of  society  who  never  costs  the  state  anything  for 
correction  and  discipline.  If  a  man  who  has  gone  astray 
can  be  reclaimed  in  any  way,  no  one  would  hinder  such  a 
work,  but  people  whose  minds  are  full  of  sympathy  and 
interest  for  criminals  and  who  desire  to  adopt  some  sys- 
tematic plans  of  reformatory  efforts  are  only,  once  more, 
trampling  on  the  Forgotten  Man. 

Let  us  look  at  another  case.  If  there  is  a  public  office  to 
be  filled,  of  course  a  great  number  of  persons  come  forward 
as  candidates  for  it.  Many  of  these  persons  are  urged  as 
candidates  on  the  ground  that  they  are  badly  off,  or  that 
they  cannot  support  themselves,  or  that  they  want  to  earn 
a  living  while  educating  themselves,  or  that  they  have 
female  relatives  dependent  on  them,  or  for  some  other 
reason  of  a  similar  kind.  In  other  cases,  candidates  are 
presented  and  urged  on  the  ground  of  their  kinship  to 
somebody,  or  on  account  of  service,  it  may  be  meritorious 
service,  in  some  other  line  than  that  of  the  duty  to  be 
performed.  Men  are  proposed  for  clerkships  on  the  ground 
of  service  in  the  army  twenty  years  ago,  or  for  custom- 
house inspectors  on  the  ground  of  public  services  in  the 
organization  of  political  parties.  If  public  positions  are 
granted  on  these  grounds  of  sentiment  or  favoritism,  the 
abuse  is  to  be  condemned  on  the  ground  of  the  harm  done 
to  the  public  interest;  bwt  I  now  desire  to  point  out  another 
thing  which  is  constantly  forgotten.  If  you  give  a  position 
to  A,  you  cannot  give  it  to  B.  If  A  is  an  object  of  senti- 
ment or  favoritism  and  not  a  person  fit  and  competent  to 
fulfill  the  duty,  who  is  B.'^  He  is  somebody  who  has  nothing 
but  merit  on  his  side,  somebody  who  has  no  powerful 
friends,  no  political  influence,  some  quiet,  unobtrusive 
individual  who  has  known  no  other  way  to  secure  the 
chances  of  life  than  simply  to  deserve  them.     Here  we  have 


486    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

the  Forgotten  Man  again,  and  once  again  we  find  him  worthy 
of  all  respect  and  consideration,  but  passed  by  in  favor  of 
the  noisy,  pushing,  and  incompetent.  Who  ever  remembers 
that  if  you  give  a  place  to  a  man  who  is  unfit  for  it  you  are 
keeping  out  of  it  somebody,  somewhere,  who  is  fit  for  it? 

Let  us  take  another  case.  A  trades-union  is  an  associa- 
tion of  journeymen  in  a  certain  trade  which  has  for  one  of 
its  chief  objects  to  raise  wages  in  that  trade.  This  object 
can  be  accomplished  only  by  drawing  more  capital  into  the 
trade,  or  by  lessening  the  supply  of  labor  in  it.  To  do  the 
latter,  the  trades-unions  limit  the  number  of  apprentices 
who  may  be  admitted  to  the  trade.  In  discussing  this 
device,  people  generally  fix  their  minds  on  the  beneficiaries 
of  this  arrangement.  It  is  desired  by  everybody  that 
wages  should  be  as  high  as  they  can  be  under  the  conditions 
of  industry.  Our  minds  are  directed  by  the  facts  of  the  case 
to  the  men  who  are  in  the  trade  already  and  are  seeking 
their  own  advantage.  Sometimes  people  go  on  to  notice 
the  effects  of  trades-unionism  on  the  employers,  but 
although  employers  are  constantly  vexed  by  it,  it  is  seen 
that  they  soon  count  it  into  the  risks  of  their  business  and 
settle  down  to  it  philosophically.  Sometimes  people  go 
further  then  and  see  that,  if  the  employer  adds  the  trades- 
union  and  strike  risk  to  the  other  risks,  he  submits  to  it 
because  he  has  passed  it  along  upon  the  public  and  that 
the  public  wealth  is  diminished  by  trades-unionism,  which 
is  undoubtedly  the  case.  I  do  not  remember,  however, 
that  I  have  ever  seen  in  print  any  analysis  and  observation 
of  trades-unionism  which  takes  into  account  its  effect  in 
another  direction.  The  effect  on  employers  or  on  the 
public  would  not  raise  wages.  The  public  pays  more  for 
houses  and  goods,  but  that  does  not  raise  wages.  The 
surplus  paid  by  the  public  is  pure  loss,  because  it  is  only 
paid  to  cover  an  extra  business  risk  of  the  employer.  If 
their  trades-unions  raise  wages,  how  do  they  do  it?     They 


THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  487 

do  it  by  lessening  the  supply  of  labor  in  the  trade,  and  this 
they  do  by  limiting  the  number  of  apprentices.  All  that 
is  won,  therefore,  for  those  in  the  trade,  is  won  at  the  ex- 
pense of  those  persons  in  the  same  class  in  life  who  want  to 
get  into  the  trade  but  are  forbidden.  Like  every  other 
monopoly,  this  one  secures  advantages  for  those  who  are 
in  only  at  a  greater  loss  to  those  who  are  kept  out.  Who, 
then,  are  those  who  are  kept  out  and  who  are  always  for- 
gotten in  all  the  discussions.'*  They  are  the  Forgotten  Men 
again;  and  what  kind  of  men  are  they.'*  They  are  those 
young  men  who  want  to  earn  their  living  by  the  trade  in 
question.  Since  they  select  it,  it  is  fair  to  suppose  that 
they  are  fit  for  it,  would  succeed  at  it,  and  would  benefit 
society  by  practicing  it;  but  they  are  arbitrarily  excluded 
from  it  and  are  perhaps  pushed  down  into  the  class  of  un- 
skilled laborers.  When  people  talk  of  the  success  of  a 
trades-union  in  raising  wages,  they  forget  these  persons 
who  have  really,  in  a  sense,  paid  the  increase. 

Let  me  now  turn  your  attention  to  another  class  of  cases. 
I  have  shown  how,  in  time  past,  the  history  of  states  has 
been  a  history  of  selfishness,  cupidity,  and  robbery,  and  I 
have  affirmed  that  now  and  always  the  problems  of  govern- 
ment are  how  to  deal  with  these  same  vices  of  human 
nature.  People  are  always  prone  to  believe  that  there  is 
something  metaphysical  and  sentimental  about  civil  affairs, 
but  there  is  not.  Civil  institutions  are  constructed  to 
protect,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  the  property  of  men 
and  the  honor  of  women  against  the  vices  and  passions  of 
human  nature.  In  our  day  and  country,  the  problem 
presents  new  phases,  but  it  is  there  just  the  same  as  it  ever 
was,  and  the  problem  is  only  the  more  difficult  for  us  be- 
cause of  its  new  phase  which  prevents  us  from  recognizing 
it.  In  fact,  our  people  are  raving  and  struggling  against 
it  in  a  kind  of  blind  way,  not  yet  having  come  to  recognize 
it.     More  than  half  of  their  blows,  at  present,  are  mis- 


488    THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

directed  and  fail  of  their  object,  but  they  will  be  aimed 
better  by  and  by.  There  is  a  great  deal  of  clamor  about 
watering  stocks  and  the  power  of  combined  capital,  which 
is  not  very  intelligent  or  well-directed.  The  evil  and  abuse 
which  people  are  groping  after  in  all  these  denunciations  is 
jobbery. 

By  jobbery  I  mean  the  constantly  apparent  effort  to 
win  wealth,  not  by  honest  and  independent  production, 
but  by  some  sort  of  a  scheme  for  extorting  other  people's 
product  from  them.  A  large  part  of  our  legislation  con- 
sists in  making  a  job  for  somebody.  Public  buildings  are 
jobs,  not  always,  but  in  most  cases.  The  buildings  are 
not  needed  at  all  or  are  costly  far  beyond  what  is  useful  or 
even  decently  luxurious.  Internal  improvements  are  jobs. 
They  are  carried  out,  not  because  they  are  needed  in  them- 
selves, but  because  they  will  serve  the  turn  of  some  private 
interest,  often  incidentally  that  of  the  very  legislators  who 
pass  the  appropriations  for  them.  A  man  who  wants  a 
farm,  instead  of  going  out  where  there  is  plenty  of  land 
available  for  it,  goes  down  under  the  Mississippi  River  to 
make  a  farm,  and  then  wants  his  fellow-citizens  to  be 
taxed  to  dyke  the  river  so  as  to  keep  it  off  his  farm.  The 
Californian  hydraulic  miners  have  washed  the  gold  out  of 
the  hillsides  and  have  washed  the  dirt  down  into  the  valleys 
to  the  ruin  of  the  rivers  and  the  farms.  They  want  the 
federal  government  to  remove  this  dirt  at  the  national 
expense.  The  silver  miners,  finding  that  their  product  is 
losing  value  in  the  market,  get  the  government  to  go  into 
the  market  as  a  great  buyer  in  the  hope  of  sustaining  the 
price.  The  national  government  is  called  upon  to  buy  or 
hire  unsalable  ships;  to  dig  canals  which  will  not  pay; 
to  educate  illiterates  in  the  states  which  have  not  done 
their  duty  at  the  expense  of  the  states  which  have  done 
their  duty  as  to  education;  to  buy  up  telegraphs  which  no 
longer  pay;    and  to  provide  the  capital  for  enterprises  of 


THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  489 

which  private  individuals  are  to  win  the  profits.  We  are 
called  upon  to  squander  twenty  millions  on  swamps  and 
creeks;  from  twenty  to  sixty-six  millions  on  the  Mississippi 
River;  one  hundred  millions  in  pensions  —  and  there  is 
now  a  demand  for  another  hundred  million  beyond  that. 
This  is  the  great  plan  of  all  living  on  each  other.  The 
pensions  in  England  used  to  be  given  to  aristocrats  who 
had  political  power,  in  order  to  corrupt  them.  Here  the 
pensions  are  given  to  the  great  democratic  mass  who  have 
the  political  power,  in  order  to  corrupt  them.  We  have 
one  hundred  thousand  federal  office-holders  and  I  do  not 
know  how  many  state  and  municipal  office-holders.  Of 
course  public  officers  are  necessary  and  it  is  an  economical 
organization  of  society  to  set  apart  some  of  its  members 
for  civil  functions,  but  if  the  number  of  persons  drawn 
from  production  and  supported  by  the  producers  while 
engaged  in  civil  functions  is  in  undue  proportion  to  the 
total  population,  there  is  economic  loss.  If  public  offices 
are  treated  as  spoils  or  benefices  or  sinecures,  then  they 
are  jobs  and  only  constitute  part  of  the  pillage. 

The  biggest  job  of  all  is  a  protective  tariff.  This  device 
consists  in  delivering  every  man  over  to  be  plundered  by  his 
neighbor  and  in  teaching  him  to  believe  that  it  is  a  good 
thing  for  him  and  his  country  because  he  may  take  his  turn 
at  plundering  the  rest.  Mr.  Kelley  said  that  if  the  internal 
revenue  taxes  on  whisky  and  tobacco,  which  are  paid  to 
the  United  States  government,  were  not  taken  off,  there 
would  be  a  rebellion.  Just  then  it  was  discovered  that 
Sumatra  tobacco  was  being  imported,  and  the  Connecticut 
tobacco  men  hastened  to  Congress  to  get  a  tax  laid  on  it 
for  their  advantage.  So  it  appears  that  if  a  tax  is  laid  on 
tobacco,  to  be  paid  to  the  United  States,  there  will  be  a 
rebellion,  but  if  a  tax  is  laid  on  it  to  be  paid  to  the  farmers 
of  the  Connecticut  Valley,  there  will  be  no  rebellion  at  all. 
The  tobacco  farmers  having  been  taxed  for  protected  manu- 


490     THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

factures  are  now  to  be  taken  into  the  system,  and  the 
workmen  in  the  factories  are  to  be  taxed  on  their  tobacco 
to  protect  the  farmers.  So  the  system  is  rendered  more 
complete   and   comprehensive. 

On  every  hand  you  find  this  jobbery.  The  government 
is  to  give  every  man  a  pension,  and  every  man  an  office, 
and  every  man  a  tax  to  raise  the  price  of  his  product,  and 
to  clean  out  every  man's  creek  for  him,  and  to  buy  all  his 
unsalable  property,  and  to  provide  him  with  plenty  of  cur- 
rency to  pay  his  debts,  and  to  educate  his  children,  and  to 
give  him  the  use  of  a  library  and  a  park  and  a  museum  and 
a  gallery  of  pictures.  On  every  side  the  doors  of  waste  and 
extravagance  stand  open;  and  spend,  squander,  plunder, 
and  grab  are  the  watchwords.  We  grumble  some  about  it 
and  talk  about  the  greed  of  corporations  and  the  power 
of  capital  and  the  wickedness  of  stock  gambling.  Yet  we 
elect  the  legislators  who  do  all  this  work.  Of  course,  we 
should  never  think  of  blaming  ourselves  for  electing  men 
to  represent  and  govern  us,  who,  if  I  may  use  a  slang  expres- 
sion, give  us  away.  AMiat  man  ever  blamed  himself  for  his 
misfortune?  We  groan  about  monopolies  and  talk  about 
more  laws  to  prevent  the  wrongs  done  by  chartered  corpora- 
tions. WTio  made  the  charters.'*  Our  representatives. 
Who  elected  such  representatives.'^  We  did.  How  can  we 
get  bad  law-makers  to  make  a  law  which  shall  prevent 
bad  law-makers  from  making  a  bad  law.'^  That  is,  really, 
what  we  are  trying  to  do.  If  we  are  a  free,  self-governing 
people,  all  our  misfortunes  come  right  home  to  ourselves 
and  we  can  blame  nobody  else.  Is  any  one  astonished  to 
find  that  men  are  greedy,  whether  they  are  incorporated  or 
not.f*  Is  it  a  revelation  to  find  that  we  need,  in  our  civil 
affairs,  to  devise  guarantees  against  selfishness,  rapacity, 
and  fraud.f*  I  have  ventured  to  affirm  that  government 
has  never  had  to  deal  with  anything  else. 

Now,  I  have  said  that  this  jobbery  means  waste,  plunder. 


THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  491 

and  loss,  and  I  defined  it  at  the  outset  as  the  system  of 
making  a  chance  to  extort  part  of  his  product  from  some- 
body else.  Now  comes  the  question:  Who  pays  for  it  all? 
The  system  of  plundering  each  other  soon  destroys  all  that 
it  deals  with.  It  produces  nothing.  Wealth  comes  only 
from  production,  and  all  that  the  wrangling  grabbers, 
loafers,  and  jobbers  get  to  deal  with  comes  from  some- 
body's toil  and  sacrifice.  "WTio,  then,  is  he  who  provides 
it  all?  Go  and  find  him  and  you  will  have  once  more 
before  you  the  Forgotten  Man.  You  will  find  him  hard  at 
work  because  he  has  a  great  many  to  support.  Nature  has 
done  a  great  deal  for  him  in  giving  him  a  fertile  soil  and  an 
excellent  climate  and  he  wonders  why  it  is  that,  after  all, 
his  scale  of  comfort  is  so  moderate.  He  has  to  get  out  of 
the  soil  enough  to  pay  all  his  taxes,  and  that  means  the 
cost  of  all  the  jobs  and  the  fund  for  all  the  plunder.  The 
Forgotten  Man  is  delving  away  in  patient  industry,  sup- 
porting his  family,  paying  his  taxes,  casting  his  vote, 
supporting  the  church  and  the  school,  reading  his  news- 
paper, and  cheering  for  the  politician  of  his  admiration,  but 
he  is  the  only  one  for  whom  there  is  no  provision  in  the 
great  scramble  and  the  big  divide. 

Such  is  the  Forgotten  Man.  He  works,  he  votes,  generally 
he  prays  —  but  he  always  pays  —  yes,  above  all,  he  pays. 
He  does  not  want  an  office;  his  name  never  gets  into  the 
newspaper  except  when  he  gets  married  or  dies.  He  keeps 
production  going  on.  He  contributes  to  the  strength  of 
parties.  He  is  flattered  before  election.  He  is  strongly 
patriotic.  He  is  wanted,  whenever,  in  his  little  circle, 
there  is  work  to  be  done  or  counsel  to  be  given.  He  may 
grumble  some  occasionally  to  his  wife  and  family,  but  he 
does  not  frequent  the  grocery  or  talk  politics  at  the  tavern. 
Consequently,  he  is  forgotten.  He  is  a  commonplace  man. 
He  gives  no  trouble.  He  excites  no  admiration.  He  is 
not  in  any  way  a  hero  (like  a  popular  orator) ;  or  a  problem 


492     THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

(like  tramps  and  outcasts);  nor  notorious  (like  criminals); 
nor  an  object  of  sentiment  (like  the  poor  and  weak) ;  nor  a 
burden  (like  paupers  and  loafers);  nor  an  object  out  of 
which  social  capital  may  be  made  (like  the  beneficiaries  of 
church  and  state  charities);  nor  an  object  for  charitable 
aid  and  protection  (like  animals  treated  with  cruelty); 
nor  the  object  of  a  job  (like  the  ignorant  and  illiterate); 
nor  one  over  whom  sentimental  economists  and  statesmen 
can  parade  their  fine  sentiments  (like  ineflBcient  workmen 
and  shiftless  artisans).  Therefore,  he  is  forgotten.  All 
the  burdens  fall  on  him,  or  on  her,  for  it  is  time  to  remember 
that  the  Forgotten  Man  is  not  seldom  a  woman. 

When  you  go  to  Willimantic,  they  will  show  you  with 
great  pride  the  splendid  thread  mills  there.  I  am  told 
that  there  are  sewing-women  who  can  earn  only  fifty  cents 
in  twelve  hours,  and  provide  the  thread.  In  the  cost  of 
every  spool  of  thread  more  than  one  cent  is  tax.  It  is  paid, 
not  to  get  the  thread,  for  you  could  get  the  thread  without 
it.  It  is  paid  to  get  the  Willimantic  linen  company  which 
is  not  worth  having  and  which  is,  in  fact,  a  nuisance,  because 
it  makes  thread  harder  to  get  than  it  would  be  if  there  were 
no  such  concern.  If  a  woman  earns  fifty  cents  in  twelve 
hours,  she  earns  a  spool  of  thread  as  nearly  as  may  be  in 
an  hour,  and  if  she  uses  a  spool  of  thread  per  day,  she 
works  a  quarter  of  an  hour  per  day  to  support  the  Willi- 
mantic linen  company,  which  in  1882  paid  95  per  cent 
dividend  to  its  stockholders.  If  you  go  and  look  at  the  mill, 
it  will  captivate  your  imagination  until  you  remember  all 
the  women  in  all  the  garrets,  and  all  the  artisans'  and 
laborers'  wives  and  children  who  are  spending  their  hours  of 
labor,  not  to  get  goods  which  they  need,  but  to  pay  for  the 
industrial  system  which  only  stands  in  their  way  and 
makes  it  harder  for  them  to  get  the  goods. 

It  is  plain  enough  that  the  Forgotten  Man  and  the 
Forgotten  Woman  are  the  very  life  and  substance  of  society. 


THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  493 

They  are  the  ones  who  ought  to  be  first  and  always  remem- 
bered. They  are  always  forgotten  by  sentimentalists, 
philanthropists,  reformers,  enthusiasts,  and  every  descrip- 
tion of  speculator  in  sociology,  political  economy,  or  political 
science.  If  a  student  of  any  of  these  sciences  ever  comes 
to  understand  the  position  of  the  Forgotten  Man  and  to 
appreciate  his  true  value,  you  will  find  such  student  an 
uncompromising  advocate  of  the  strictest  scientific  thinking 
on  all  social  topics,  and  a  cold  and  hard-hearted  skeptic 
towards  all  artificial  schemes  of  social  amelioration.  If  it 
is  desired  to  bring  about  social  improvements,  bring  us  a 
scheme  for  relieving  the  Forgotten  Man  of  some  of  his 
burdens.  He  is  our  productive  force  which  we  are  wasting. 
Let  us  stop  wasting  his  force.  Then  we  shall  have  a  clean 
and  simple  gain  for  the  whole  society.  The  Forgotten  Man 
is  weighted  down  with  the  cost  and  burden  of  the  schemes 
for  making  everybody  happy,  with  the  cost  of  public  benefi- 
cence, with  the  support  of  all  the  loafers,  with  the  loss  of 
all  the  economic  quackery,  with  the  cost  of  all  the  jobs. 
Let  us  remember  him  a  little  while.  Let  us  take  some  of 
the  burdens  off  him.  Let  us  turn  our  pity  on  him  instead 
of  on  the  good-for-nothing.  It  will  be  only  justice  to  him, 
and  society  will  greatly  gain  by  it.  Why  should  we  not 
also  have  the  satisfaction  of  thinking  and  caring  for  a 
little  while  about  the  clean,  honest,  industrious,  inde- 
pendent, self-supporting  men  and  women  who  have  not 
inherited  much  to  make  life  luxurious  for  them,  but  who  are 
doing  what  they  can  to  get  on  in  the  world  without  begging 
from  anybody,  especially  since  all  they  want  is  to  be  let 
alone,  with  good  friendship  and  honest  respect.  Certainly 
the  philanthropists  and  sentimentalists  have  kept  our 
attention  for  a  long  time  on  the  nasty,  shiftless,  criminal, 
whining,  crawling,  and  good-for-nothing  people,  as  if  they 
alone  deserved  our  attention. 

The  Forgotten  Man  is  never  a  pauper.     He  almost  always 


494     THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

has  a  little  capital  because  it  belongs  to  the  character  of  the 
man  to  save  something.  He  never  has  more  than  a  little. 
He  is,  therefore,  poor  in  the  popular  sense,  although  in  the 
correct  sense  he  is  not  so.  I  have  said  already  that  if  you 
learn  to  look  for  the  Forgotten  Man  and  to  care  for  him, 
you  will  be  very  skeptical  toward  all  philanthropic  and 
humanitarian  schemes.  It  is  clear  now  that  the  interest 
of  the  Forgotten  Man  and  the  interest  of  "the  poor,"  "the 
weak,"  and  the  other  petted  classes  are  in  antagonism. 
In  fact,  the  warning  to  you  to  look  for  the  Forgotten  Man 
comes  the  minute  that  the  orator  or  writer  begins  to  talk 
about  the  poor  man.  That  minute  the  Forgotten  Man  is 
in  danger  of  a  new  assault,  and  if  you  intend  to  meddle  in 
the  matter  at  all,  then  is  the  minute  for  you  to  look  about 
for  him  and  to  give  him  your  aid.  Hence,  if  you  care  for 
the  Forgotten  Man,  you  will  be  sure  to  be  charged  with 
not  caring  for  the  poor.  Whatever  you  do  for  any  of  the 
petted  classes  wastes  capital.  If  you  do  anything  for  the 
Forgotten  Man,  you  must  secure  him  his  earnings  and 
savings,  that  is,  you  legislate  for  the  security  of  capital 
and  for  its  free  employment;  you  must  oppose  paper 
money,  wildcat  banking  and  usury  laws  and  you  must 
maintain  the  inviolability  of  contracts.  Hence  you  must 
be  prepared  to  be  told  that  you  favor  the  capitalist  class, 
the  enemy  of  the  poor  man. 

What  the  Forgotten  Man  really  wants  is  true  liberty. 
Most  of  his  wrongs  and  woes  come  from  the  fact  that  there 
are  yet  mixed  together  in  our  institutions  the  old  mediaeval 
theories  of  protection  and  personal  dependence  and  the 
modern  theories  of  independence  and  individual  liberty. 
The  consequence  is  that  the  people  who  are  clever  enough 
to  get  into  positions  of  control,  measure  their  own  rights 
by  the  paternal  theory  and  their  own  duties  by  the  theory 
of  independent  liberty.  It  follows  that  the  Forgotten 
Man,  who  is  hard  at  work  at  home,  has  to  pay  both  ways. 


THE  FORGOTTEN  IVIAN  495 

His  rights  are  measured  by  the  theory  of  liberty,  that  is, 
he  has  only  such  as  he  can  conquer.  His  duties  are  measured 
by  the  paternal  theory,  that  is,  he  must  discharge  all  which 
are  laid  upon  him,  as  is  always  the  fortune  of  parents. 
People  talk  about  the  paternal  theory  of  government  as  if 
it  were  a  very  simple  thing.  Analyze  it,  however,  and  you 
see  that  in  every  paternal  relation  there  must  be  two  parties, 
a  parent  and  a  child,  and  when  you  speak  metaphorically, 
it  makes  all  the  difference  in  the  world  who  is  parent  and 
who  is  child.  Now,  since  we,  the  people,  are  the  state, 
w^henever  there  is  any  work  to  be  done  or  expense  to  be  paid, 
and  since  the  petted  classes  and  the  criminals  and  the 
jobbers  cost  and  do  not  pay,  it  is  they  who  are  in  the  posi- 
tion of  the  child,  and  it  is  the  Forgotten  Man  who  is  the 
parent.  What  the  Forgotten  Man  needs,  therefore,  is  that 
we  come  to  a  clearer  understanding  of  liberty  and  to  a 
more  complete  realization  of  it.  Every  step  which  we  win 
in  liberty  will  set  the  Forgotten  Man  free  from  some  of  his 
burdens  and  allow  him  to  use  his  powers  for  himself  and  for 
the  commonwealth. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTE 

The  following  bibliography  is  as  nearly  exhaustive  as  we  have 
been  able  to  make  it.  There  are  doubtless  other  articles  which 
have  not  come  under  our  notice;  and  there  are  certainly  a  number 
of  contributions  to  the  press,  signed  and  unsigned,  to  which  we 
have  no  clue.  The  distribution  of  those  which  we  have  found 
will  indicate  the  task  of  any  one  who  should  aim  at  exhaustiveness. 

It  has  seemed  best  to  us  to  include  the  titles  of  certain  unpub- 
lished writings,  especially  where  these  are  to  be  made  accessible 
to  students  by  the  deposit  of  the  manuscripts  with  the  Yale 
University  Library  (under  Sumner  Estate).  Sumner  had  a  way 
of  writing  something  out  very  carefully,  perhaps  as  a  lecture,  and 
then  laying  it  away  with  apparently  no  thought  of  publishing  it; 
a  number  of  such  manuscripts  have  been  printed  for  the  first  time 
in  this  series  of  volumes.  There  are  also  a  few  of  Sumner's 
printed  utterances  which  we  possessed  in  the  form  of  clippings, 
but  could  not  locate;  the  titles  of  such  have  been  included  as 
accessible  at  the  Yale  Library. 

There  is  a  good  deal  of  Sumner's  writing  in  the  reports  of  the 
Connecticut  State  Board  of  Education.  We  have  been  informed 
that  his  services  to  that  Board,  extending  over  twenty  years, 
included  much  committee  work  and  many  carefully  written 
reports.  As  these  are  of  a  somewhat  special  nature,  we  refer 
simply  to  the  documents  of  the  Board. 

It  is  the  intention  of  the  publishers  to  make  of  the  volumes 
now  in  print  under  uniform  style  a  set  of  four,  to  be  numbered 
in  the  order  of  their  appearance.  For  the  sake  of  brevity,  then, 
War  and  Other  Essays  is  referred  to  below  as  Vol.  I;  Earth 
Hunger  and  Other  Essays,  as  Vol.  II;  The  Challenge  of  Facts  and 
Other  Essays,  as  Vol.  Ill;  and  The  Forgotten  Man  and  Other 
Essays,  as  Vol.  IV. 

There  are  in  these  volumes  a  few  numbers  not  written  by 
Sumner,  but  about  him,  such  as  the  Memorial  Addresses  in 
Vol.  III. 

A.   G.   K. 
M.   R.  D. 
499 


500  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

1872.  The  Books  of  the  Kings,  by  K.  C.  W.  F.  Bahr.     Trans- 

lated, Enlarged,  and  Edited  .  .  .  Book  2,  by  W.  G. 
Sumner,  in  Lange,  J.  P.,  A  commentary  on  the  Holy 
Scripture  .  .  .  New  York,  Scribner,  Armstrong  &  Co., 
1866-1882,  26  vols.,  VI,  312  pp. 

The  Church's  Law  of  the  Interpretation  of  Scrip- 
ture. Unpublished  manuscript  on  scientific  criticism 
of  the  Bible.     April  3.     61  pp.     (Sumner  Estate.) 

Memorial  Day  Address.  Delivered  at  Morristown, 
May  30.  Printed  for  the  first  time  in  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  347- 
362. 

1873.  The    Solidarity    of    the    Human    Race.     Unpublished 

manuscript  of  an  address  on  the  influence  of  ideas  and 
events  in  one  country  on  conditions  in  other  countries, 
delivered  at  the  Sheffield  Scientific  School,  January  11. 
40  pp.     (Sumner  Estate.) 

Relation  of  Physical  to  Moral  Good.  An  address. 
Unpublished  manuscript  probably  of  this  date,  35  pp. 
(Sumner  Estate.) 

Introductory  Lecture  to  Courses  in  Political  and 
Social  Science.  Printed  for  the  first  time  in  Vol.  Ill, 
pp.  391-403. 

History  of  Paper  Money.  Paper  money  in  China, 
England,  Austria,  Russia,  and  the  American  Colonies. 
Unpublished  manuscrijit,  109  pp.     (Sumner  Estate.) 

Socialism.  Three  unpublished  manuscripts  written  be- 
tween 1873  and  1880  which  appear  to  be  preliminary 
sketches  to  the  essay  entitled  The  Challenge  of  Facts. 
38,  12,  and  31  pp.  respectively. 

1874.  A  History  of  American  Currency,  with  chapters  on  the 

English  Bank  Restriction  and  Austrian  Paper  Money, 
to  which  is  appended  "The  Bullion  Report."  New 
York,  H.  Holt  &  Co.,  iv,  391  pp.,  twofold  diagram. 

The  Lesson  of  the  Panic  (of  1873).  Unpublished  manu- 
script advocating  a  return  to  a  sound  currency,  20  pp. 
(Sumner  Estate.) 

Have  We  Had  Enough?  Unpublished  manuscript  on  the 
evils  of  paper  money,  written  soon  after  the  panic  of 
1873,  15  pp.     (Sumner  Estate.) 

Political  Economy.  From  300  to  400  pp.  of  lecture  notes 
for  classroom  use.     (Sumner  Estate.) 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  501 

1874.  Taxation.     What  it  is,  what  its  relation  to  other  depart- 

ments of  poUtical  economy  is,  and  what  are  the  general 
principles  by  which  it  must  be  controlled.  Unpublished 
manuscript  probably  of  this  date,  24  pp.  (Sumner 
Estate.) 

1875.  American  Finance.     Boston,  Williams. 

The  Currency  Question.  An  address  delivered  about 
this  time  opposing  the  issue  of  irredeemable  paper  money. 
Unpublished  manuscript,  96  pp.     (Sumner  Estate.) 

1876.  Monetary    Development.     (In    Woolsey,    T.    D.,    and 

others.    First    Century    of   the    Repubhc.     New    York, 

Harper  &  Bros.) 
Politics  in  America,   1776-1876.     North  American  Re- 
view, January,  Vol.  CXXII,  Centennial  number,  pp.  47- 

87.     Reprinted  in  Vol.  IV,  pp.  285-333. 
Shall  the  "Hard  Times"  Continue?    A  review  of  the 

address   of   Professor   Sumner   before   the   New   Haven 

Chamber    of     Commerce.     The    Woonsocket    Patriot, 

May  19. 
BouRBONisM.     "Real    Issues   of   the   Day."     New   York 

World,  May  19. 
Free   Pig-iron.     Letter   to   the   New   York    Mercantile 

Journal,  June  3. 
For  President?     New  Haven  Palladium,  September  12. 

Reprinted  in  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  365-379. 
Is  THE  War  Over?     "Real  Issues  of  the  Day."     New 

York  World,  October  9. 
Fears  of  a  Solid  South.     "Real  Issues  of  the  Day." 

New  York  World,  October  10. 
Political  Status  of  the  Southern  States.     Letter  to 

the  New  York  World,  October  16. 
What  Has  Become  of  Reform?     "Real  Issues  of  the 

Day."     New  York  World,  October  23. 
The  Democratic  Reply.     To  the  visiting  Republicans  in 

New  Orleans  who  refused  to  enter  into  a  conference  upon 

the    subject   of   the   counting    of    the    election    returns. 

New  York  Tribune,  November  17. 
"Professor    Sumner    on    Louisiana,"      Letter   to    the 

New  York  World,  November  21,  in  answer  to  Governor 

Ingersoll's  request  to  express  his  views  on  the  political 

situation  in  that  state  after  his  visit  to  New  Orleans. 


502  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

1876.  Impressions    in    New    Orleans.     Letter   to    the    New 

York  Herald,  November  22. 

1877.  Lectures  on  the  History  of  Protection  in  the  United 

States.  Delivered  before  the  International  Free-trade 
Alliance.  Reprinted  from  "The  New  Century."  Pub- 
lished for  the  International  Free-trade  Alliance  by 
G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons,  New  York,  64  pp.  Contents: 
The  National  Idea  and  the  American  System,  Broad 
Principles  Underlying  the  Tariff  Controversy,  The 
Origin  of  Protection  in  this  Country,  The  Establishment 
of  Protection  in  this  Country,  Vacillation  of  the  Pro- 
tective Policy  in  this  Country. 

Republican  Government.  The  Chicago  Tribune,  Janu- 
ary 1.     Reprinted  in  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  223-240. 

Protection  and  Pig-iron.  Letter  to  the  Courier, 
February  12. 

Democracy  and  Responsible  Government.  Address 
at  Providence,  R.  I.,  June  20,  before  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa 
Society  of  Brown  University.  The  Providence  Evening 
Press,  June  21.     Reprinted  in  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  243-286. 

Silver.  Address  before  the  Senior  Class  of  Yale  Uni- 
versity.    The  New  Haven  Union,  December  12. 

The  Silver  Question.  What  it  is  and  how  it  should  be 
dealt  with.     New  York  World,  December  12. 

The  Commercial  Crisis  of  1837.  Written  in  1877  or 
1878.  (There  are  indications  on  the  manuscript  that 
it  was  once  printed,  but  efforts  to  find  where  have 
failed.)  Published,  probably  for  the  first  time,  in 
Vol.  IV,  pp.  371-398. 

1878.  Our  Revenue  System,  by  A.  L.  Earle.    Preface  by  W.  G. 

Sumner.  New  York,  published  for  the  New  York  Free- 
trade  Club  by  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons,  47  pp.  (Economic 
Monograph  No.  V.) 

Money  and  Its  Laws.  International  Review,  January 
and  February,  Vol.  V,  pp.  75-81. 

What  is  Free  Trade?     Chicago  News,  January  7. 

Silver.  Address  in  Chicago.  The  Chicago  Tribune, 
January  9. 

The  Silver  Question.  Lecture  before  the  Manhattan 
Club  of  New  York  City,  January  25,  on  the  disastrous 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  503 

1878  results  of  remonetization.  The  New  York  World, 
January  26. 

A  Few  Plain  Answers.  Letter  to  the  New  Haven 
Register,  February  28,  on  the  tariff. 

Protection  and  Revenue  in  1877.  Lecture  dehvered 
before  the  New  York  Free-trade  Club,  April  18.  New 
York,  published  for  the  New  York  Free-trade  Club  by 
G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons.  (Economic  Monograph  No. 
VIII.) 

Socialism.  Scribner's  Monthly,  October,  Vol.  XVI,  No. 
6,  pp.  887-893. 

Relation  of  Legislation  to  Currency.  Unpublished 
manuscript  written  about  this  time  dealing  with  the 
nature  of  money,  coining,  paper  money,  legal  tender 
acts,  the  monetary  experience  of  England  and  France, 
etc.,  and  opposing  the  abuses  of  legislation  in  regard  to 
currency.     45  pp.     (Sumner  Estate.) 

A  Concurrent  Circulation  of  Gold  and  Silver. 
Printed  for  the  first  time  in  Vol.  IV,  pp.  183-210. 

1879.  Bimetallism.     Princeton  Review,  November,  pp.  546-578. 
Amortization   of   Public   Debts.     Unpublished   manu- 
script, chiefly  historical,  written  about  this  time.     35  pp. 
(Sumner  Estate.) 

The  Influence  of  Commercial  Crises  on  Opinions 
about  Economic  Doctrines.  An  address  probably  of 
this  date.  Printed  for  the  first  time  in  Vol.  IV,  pp. 
213-235. 

The  Co-operative  Commonwealth.  Written  in  the 
seventies  or  eighties.  Extracts  printed  for  the  first 
time  in  Vol.  IV,  pp.  441^62. 

1880.  What  Our  Boys  are  Reading.     Combined  with  "Books 

and  Reading  for  the  Young,"  by  J.  H.  Smart.     Chas. 

Scribner's  Sons.     Reprinted  in  Vol.  II,  pp.  367-377. 
The  True  Aim  of  Life.     Address  to  the  Seniors  in  Yale 

University.     The    New    Haven    Register,    February    1. 

(Not  in  form  for  re-printing.) 
The  Theory   and   Practice   of  Elections.     Princeton 

Review,  March,  pp.  262-286,  and  July,  pp.  24-41. 
Two  Letters  to  the  New  York  Times,  April  3  and  4, 

giving  his  reasons  for  using  Spencer's  "Study  of  So- 
ciology" as  a  text-book. 


504  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

1880.  The    Administration    of    Andrew    Jackson.    Address 

before  the  Kent  Club  of  the  Yale  Law  School,  briefly 

reported  in  the  New  York  Tribune,  April  29.     Printed 

in  full  for  the  first  time  in  Vol.  IV,  pp.  337-367. 
The  Revival  of  Ocean  Commerce.    A  free-trade  letter 

to  the  American  Railroad  Journal,  September  10. 
Professor  Sumner's  views  respecting  the  tariff  question. 

Letters  to  the  New  Haven  Register,  October  9, 12,  and  14. 
The  Financial  Questions  now  before  Us.     Unpublished 

manuscript   written    about    this    time,    8    pp.    (Sumner 

Estate.) 

1881.  Elections  and  Civil  Service  Reform.     Princeton  Re- 

view, January,  pp.  129-148. 
Panic  without  Cause.     Lecture  in  Brothers'  Hall,  New 

Haven,  on  the  recent  panic  in  Wall  Street.     New  Haven 

Register,  January  14. 
The  Argument  against  Protective  Taxes.     Princeton 

Review,  March,  pp.  241-259. 
Shall  Americans  Own  Ships.?     North  American  Review, 

June,  Vol.  132,  No.  CCXCV,  pp.  559-5QQ.     Reprinted 

in  Vol.  IV,  pp.  273-282. 
Fortunes  made  in  Thread.     Letter  to  the  New  York 

Times,  June  5,  on  the  peculiar  protection  given  to  the 

manufacturers  of  thread. 
Sociology.     Princeton  Review,  November,  pp.  303-323. 

Reprinted  in  Vol.  I,  pp.  167-192. 

1882.  Andrew  Jackson  as  a  Public  Man.     What  he  was,  what 

chances  he  had,  and  what  he  did  with  them.     Boston, 

New  York,   Houghton   Mifflin   Company,   vi,   402  pp. 

(American  Statesmen  Series.) 
Political    Economy    and    Political    Science.     Comp. 

by  W.  G.  Sumner,  D.  A.  Wells,  W.  E.  Foster,  R.  L. 

Dugdale,  and  G.  H.  Putnam.     New  York  Society  for 

Political    Education.     Cover    title,    36    pp.     Economic 

Tracts  No.  2. 
Protective    Taxes    and    Wages.     Philadelphia    Tariff 

Commission,  21  pp.     Caption  title. 
Bank  Checks  and  Blankets.     A  free-trade  letter  to  the 

New  Haven  Register,  June  2. 
The    "American   System."     A   letter   to   the   American 

Free- trade  League,  June. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  505 

1882.  Why  should  the  Men  of  Iowa  Levy  Taxes  on  Them- 

selves TO  Benefit  Pennsylvanlv?     Iowa  State  Leader, 

September  4. 
The  Free  Play  of  Economic  Forces.     Letter  to  the 

Nation  regarding  Jevons's  "State  in  Relation  to  Labor," 

September  30. 
Lumber  Prices.     Letter  to  the  Northwestern   Lumber- 
man, October  14. 
Professor  Sumner's  speech  before  the  Tariff  Commission, 

reviewed  by  George  Basil  Dixwell,  Cambridge,  J.  Wilson 

&  Son,  43  pp. 
Professor  Sumner's  "Argument  against  Protective  Taxes," 

reviewed    by    George    Basil    Dixwell,    Cambridge,    J. 

Wilson  &  Son,  13  pp. 
Wages.     Princeton  Review,  November,  pp.  241-262. 

1883.  The    Forgotten    Man.     The    original    lecture    on    this 

subject,  delivered  in  New  Haven  February  8  or  9. 
28  typewritten  pp.  Printed  for  the  first  time  in  Vol.  IV, 
pp.  465-495. 

What  Social  Classes  Owe  to  each  Other.  First  ap- 
peared in  Hari^er's  Weekly,  February-May,  Vol.  XXVII, 
Nos.  1366-1376.  New  York,  Harper  &  Brothers, 
169  pp. 

On  the  Case  of  a  Certain  Man  who  is  never 
Thought  Of.  Reprinted  in  Vol.  I,  pp.  247-253,  from 
"What  Social  Classes  Owe  to  Each  Other,"  pp.  123-133. 

The  Case  of  the  Forgotten  Man  Further  Considered. 
Reprinted  in  Vol.  I,  pp.  257-268,  from  "What  Social 
Classes  Owe  to  Each  Other,"  pp.  134-152. 

Best  Public  Opinion.  Letter  to  the  Gazette  and  Free 
Press,  January  12,  in  reply  to  T.  K.  Beecher. 

Let  Commercial  Relations  Alone.  Letter  to  W.  H. 
Knight  in  the  Gazette  and  Free  Press,  January  16. 

Letter  to  Mr.  Earle  of  the  American  Free-trade  League 
regarding  a  speech  of  Mr.  Evarts's.  Printed  in  the 
New  York  Times,  February  6. 

"Professor  Sumner  on  Monetary  Science."  Letter 
to  the  editor  of  Bradstreet's  in  which  he  disagrees  with 
the  theory  of  H.  C.  Adams  that  money  laws  in  economics 
are  dependent  on  the  nation's  sentiment  as  expressed  in 
its  legislative  enactments.     February  10. 


506  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

1883.  "Professor  Sumner  Replies."  Letter  to  the  New 
Haven  Register,  February  10,  referring  to  his  remarks 
about  the  protective  tax  on  thread  in  his  lecture  on  the 
"Forgotten  Man." 

"Professor  Sumner's  Presumption."  A  defense  of 
his  letter  to  Mr.  Earle  regarding  a  speech  of  Mr.  Evarts's. 
New  York  Times,  February  14. 

WiLLiMANTic  Linen  Mills.  Letter  to  the  New  York 
Times,  February  16,  defending  his  position  as  taken 
against  the  protective  tax  on  thread. 

Some  Facts  about  Thread.  Unpublished  manuscript, 
14  pp.,  referring  to  the  controversy  with  the  Willimantic 
Linen  Co.     (Sumner  Estate.) 

A  Theorist  Answered.  A  free-trade  letter  to  the  New 
Haven  Register,  February  26,  in  reply  to  a  letter  signed 
"Hardpan." 

The  Gain  to  the  Country  by  Protection.  Letter  to 
the  New  York  Times,  February  27. 

"Professor  Sumner  Instructs  His  Critics."  A  free- 
trade  letter  to  the  New  York  Times,  March  1. 

That  Census  Puzzle.     New  York  Times,  March  2. 

Protective  Taxes  and  Wages.  North  American  Re- 
view, March,  Vol.  136,  No.  CCCXVI,  pp.  270-276. 

A  Course  of  Reading  in  Political  Economy.  Prepared 
for  The  Critic,  March,  4  pp. 

The  Tariff  on  Thread.  Letter  to  the  New  York  Times, 
March  8. 

Thread.  Letter  to  the  Boston  Transcript,  April  25, 
regarding  the  Willimantic  Linen  Co. 

Thread  at  Three  Cents  a  Spool.  Letter  to  the  New 
York  Times,  April  28. 

The  Willimantic  Mills'  Profit.  Letter  to  the  Boston 
Transcript,  April  30. 

Letter  to  the  Palladium  (New  Haven),  April  30,  regarding 
the  controversy  with  the  Willimantic  Linen  Co. 

"Professor  Sumner's  Views."  Letter  to  the  New  Haven 
Register,  May  26,  in  answer  to  Mr.  Barrows  of  the 
Willimantic  Linen  Co. 

The  Philosophy  of  Strikes.  Harper's  Weekly,  Septem- 
ber 15,  Vol.  XXVII,  No.  1395,  p.  586.  Reprinted  in 
Vol.  IV,  pp.  239-246. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  507 

1883.  Letter  to  the  New  Haven  Register,  October  18,  regarding 

the  development  of  our  industries. 

"Professor  Sumner's  Views  Respecting  the  Tariff 
Question."     New  Haven  Register,  October  19. 

"Mixed  Up  Mr.  Sheldon."  Letter  to  the  New  Haven 
Register,  October  30,  showing  Mr.  Sheldon's  ignorance 
of  tariff  laws. 

The  Science  of  Sociology.  A  Speech  at  the  Farewell 
Banquet  to  Herbert  Spencer.  Delivered  November  9, 
1882,  published  in  "Herbert  Spencer  on  the  Americans 
and  the  Americans  on  Herbert  Spencer,"  pp.  35-40. 
New  York,  D.  Appleton  &  Company,  96  pp.  Reprinted 
in  Vol.  IV,  pp.  401-405. 

Suggestions  on  Social  Subjects.  Passages  selected 
from  "What  Social  Classes  owe  to  Each  Other,"  in 
the  Popular  Science  Monthly,  December,  Vol.  XXIV, 
pp.  160-169. 

An  American  Criticism  of  British  Protectionist 
Theories.  A  criticism  of  Professor  Sidgwick's  doctrine 
that  protective  taxes  come  out  of  the  foreigner.  The 
London  Economist,  December  1,  Vol.  XLI,  No.  2,101, 
pp.  1397-1398. 

The  Democratic  Theory  of  Public  Offices.  Address 
before  the  Civil  Service  Reform  Association,  Rochester, 
N.  Y.  Reasons  for  reform  in  the  manner  of  selecting 
public  oflBcers.  What  would  be  gained  by  the  change. 
Printed  in  the  Rochester  newspapers  of  the  time. 
(Sumner  Estate.) 

1884.  Problems  in  Political  Economy.    New  York,  12  mo., 

125  pp.     H.  Holt  &  Co. 
Our  Colleges  before  the  Country.     Princeton  Review, 

March,  pp.  127-140.     Reprinted  in  Vol.  I,  pp.  355-373. 
Sociological  Fallacies.     North  American  Review,  June, 

Vol.  138,  No.  CCCXXXI,  pp.  574-579.     Reprinted  m 

Vol.  II,  pp.  357-364. 
Evils  of  the  Tariff  System.     North  American  Review, 

September,  Vol.  139,  No.  CCCXXXIV,  pp.  293-299. 

1885.  Protectionism.     The    -Ism    which    Teaches    that    Waste 

makes  Wealth.  New  York,  H.  Holt  &  Company, 
October,  12mo.,  170  pp.  Reprinted  in  Vol.  IV,  pp. 
9-111. 


508  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

1885.  Collected    Essays  in  Political  and  Social  Science. 

New  York,  H.  Holt  &  Company,  173  pp.  Contents: 
Bimetallism,  Wages,  The  Argument  against  Protective 
Taxes,  Sociology,  Theory  and  Practice  of  Elections, 
Presidential  Elections  and  Civil  Service  Reform,  Our 
Colleges  Before  the  Country. 

Our  Currency  for  the  Last  Twenty-five  Years. 
Harper's  Weekly,  January  10-  February  7,  Vol.  XXIX, 
Nos.  1464-1468. 

Shall  Silver  be  Demonetized?  North  American  Re- 
view, June,  Vol.  140,  No.  CCCXLIII,  pp.  485^89. 

1886.  Regulation    of    Contracts.     How    far    have    modern 

improvements  in  production  and  transportation  changed 
the  principle  that  men  should  be  left  free  to  make  their 
own  bargains?  Science,  March  5,  Vol.  VII,  No.  161, 
pp.  225-228. 

What  Is  Free  Trade?  In  Good  Cheer  for  April,  p.  7. 
Reprinted  in  Vol.  IV,  pp.  123-127. 

Can  Protection  Increase  the  Wealth  of  the  Coun- 
try?    The  Tax-gatherer,  May  22,  No.  19. 

Industrl\.l  War.  Forum,  September,  Vol.  II,  pp.  1-8. 
Reprinted  in  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  93-102. 

Mr.  Blaine  on  the  Tariff.  North  American  Review, 
October,  Vol.  143,  No.  CCCLIX,  pp.  398-405. 

What  Is  the  "Proletariat"?  The  Independent,  Octo- 
ber 28.     Reprinted  in  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  161-165. 

Who  Win  by  Progress?  The  Independent,  November 
25.     Reprinted  in  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  169-174. 

The  New  Social  Issue.  The  Independent,  December  23. 
Reprinted  in  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  207-212. 

Subjects  for  Theses  and  Compositions.  Prepared 
with  notes  and  references  attached  to  the  subjects  for 
Senior  and  Junior  Classes,  Yale  College.  I.  Honor 
Theses  in  Political  Science.  II.  Subjects  for  Required 
Compositions.     9  pp.     (Sumner  Estate.) 

History  of  the  United  States  of  America,  1824-1876. 
Notes  taken  by  J.  C.  Schwab,  1886-1887.  MS  17^  x 
25 1  cm.     Yale  University  Library. 

Political  Economy.  Notes  of  lectures  taken  by  J.  C. 
Schwab,  1886-1887.  MS  17^x25^  cm.  Yale  Univer- 
sity Library. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  509 

1887.  What  M.vkes  the  Rich  Richer  and  the  Poor  Poorer? 
Popular  Science  Monthly,  January,  Vol.  XXX,  pj). 
289-296.     Reprinted  in  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  65-77. 

Socialism.  Speech  before  the  Massachusetts  Reform 
Club,  Boston,  January  8.  Boston  Sunday  Record, 
January  9. 

Federal  Legislation  on  Railroads.  The  Independent, 
January  20.     Reprinted  in  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  177-182. 

Legisl.\tion  by  Clamor.  The  Independent,  February  24. 
Reprinted  in  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  185-190. 

The  Shifting  of  Responsibility.  The  Independent, 
March  24.     Reprinted  in  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  193-198. 

Some  Points  in  the  New  Social  Creed.  The  Inde- 
pendent, April  21.     Reprinted  in  Vol.  II,  pp.  207-211. 

The  Indians  in  1887.  Forum,  May,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  254- 
262. 

Speculative  Legislation.  The  Independent,  May  19. 
Reprinted  in  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  215-219. 

Unrestricted  Commerce.     Chautauquan,  June. 

The  Banquet  of  Life.  The  Independent,  June  23. 
Reprinted  in  Vol.  II,  pp.  217-221. 

Some  Natural  Rights.  The  Independent,  July  28. 
Reprinted  in  Vol.  II,  pp.  222-227. 

Strikes  and  the  Industrial  Organization.  Popular 
Science  News,  July,  Vol.  XXI,  No.  7,  pp.  93-94.  Re- 
printed in  Vol.  IV,  pp.  249-253. 

State  Interference.  North  American  Review,  August, 
Vol.  145,  No.  CCCLXIX,  pp.  109-119.  Reprinted  in 
Vol.  I,  pp.  213-226. 

The  Abolition  of  Poverty.  The  Independent,  Aug- 
ust 25.     Reprinted  in  Vol.  II,  pp.  228-232. 

The  State  as  an  "Ethical  Person."  The  Independent, 
October  6.     Reprinted  in  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  201-204. 

The  Boon  of  Nature.  The  Independent,  October  27. 
Reprinted  in  Vol.  II,  pp.  233-238. 

Civil  Service  Reform.  Chautauquan,  November,  pp.  78- 
80. 

Is  Liberty  a  Lost  Blessing?  The  Independent,  Novem- 
ber 24.     Reprinted  in  Vol.  II,  pp.  131-135. 

Advantages  of  Free  Trade.  The  Christian  Secretary. 
(Sumner  Estate.) 


510  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

1888.  Land  Monopoly.     The   Independent,   January   12.     Re- 

printed in  Vol.  II,  pp.  239-244. 

A  Group  of  Natural  Monopolies.  The  Independent, 
February  16.     Reprinted  in  Vol.  II,  pp.  245-248. 

The  Fall  in  Silver  and  International  Competition. 
Rand  McNally's  Banker's  Monthly,  February,  pp.  47- 
48. 

The  First  Steps  towards  a  Millennium.  Cosmo- 
politan, March,  pp.  32-36.  Reprinted  in  Vol.  II,  pp. 
93-105. 

Another  Chapter  on  Monopoly.  The  Independent, 
March  15.     Reprinted  in  Vol.  II,  pp.  249-253. 

Trusts  and  Trades-unions.  The  Independent,  April  19. 
Reprinted  in  Vol.  IV,  pp.  257-262. 

The  Family  Monopoly.  The  Independent,  May  10. 
Reprinted  in  Vol.  II,  pp.  254-258. 

The  Family  and  Property.  The  Independent,  June  14 
and  July  19.     Reprinted  in  Vol.  II,  pp.  259-269. 

Tariff  Reform.  The  Independent,  August  16.  Re- 
printed in  Vol.  IV,  pp.  115-120. 

The  State  and  Monopoly.  The  Independent,  September 
13  and  October  11.     Reprinted  in  Vol.  II,  pp.  270-279. 

"A  Condition  not  a  Theory."  Free  trade.  Belford's 
Monthly  Magazine,  October,  Vol.  I,  No.  5. 

Democracy  and  Plutocracy.  The  Independent,  Novem- 
ber 15.     Reprinted  in  Vol.  II,  pp.  283-289. 

Definitions  of  Democracy  and  Plutocracy.  The 
Independent,  December  20.  Reprinted  in  Vol.  II, 
pp.  290-295. 

1889.  The   Conflict  of  Plutocracy  and  Democracy.     The 

Independent,  January  10.  Reprinted  in  Vol.  II,  pp. 
296-300. 

Peasant  Emancipation  in  Denmark.  Based  on  a 
review  of  Stavnsbaands-l0sningen  og  landboreformerne. 
Set  fra  national0konomiens  Standpunkt.  Af  V.  Falbe 
Hansen,  Copenhagen:  Gad.  1888.  The  Nation,  Febru- 
ary 7,  No.  1232,  pp.  123-124. 

Peasants  and  Land  Tenure  in  Scandinavia.  Un- 
published manuscript,  20  typewritten  pages,  written  in 
1889  or  later,  covering  the  period  from  the  earliest  times 
to  the  eighteenth  century.     (Sumner  Estate.) 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  511 

1889.   Separation  of  State  and  Market.     The  Independent, 
February  14.     Reprinted  in  Vol.  II,  pp.  30G-311. 

Democracy  and  Modern  Problems.  The  Independent, 
March  28.     Reprinted  in  Vol.  II,  pp.  301-305. 

Social  War  in  Democracy.  The  Independent,  April  11. 
Reprinted  in  Vol.  II,  pp.  312-317. 

An  Examination  of  a  Noble  Sentiment.  The  Inde- 
pendent, May  16.     Reprinted  in  Vol.  II,  pp.  212-216. 

Sketch  of  William  Grah.\m  Sumner.  The  Popular 
Science  Monthly,  June,  Vol.  XXXV,  pp.  261-268. 
Reprinted  in  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  3-13. 

An  Old  "Trust."  The  Independent,  June  13.  Re- 
printed in  Vol.  IV,  pp.  265-269. 

What  is  Civil  Liberty.?  The  Popular  Science  Monthly, 
July,  Vol.  XXXV,  pp.  289-303.  Reprinted  in  Vol.  II. 
pp.  109-130. 

Who  Is  Free.?  Is  It  the  Savage.?  The  Independent, 
July  18.     Reprinted  in  Vol.  II,  pp.  136-140. 

Who  Is  Free.?  Is  It  the  Civilized  Man.?  The  Inde- 
pendent, August  15.     Reprinted  in  Vol.  II,  pp.  140-145. 

Who  Is  Free.?  Is  It  the  Millionaire.?  The  Inde- 
pendent, September  12.  Reprinted  in  Vol.  II,  pp.  145- 
150. 

Who  Is  Free.?  Is  It  the  Tramp.?  The  Independent. 
October  17.     Reprinted  in  Vol.  II,  pp.  150-155. 

Liberty  and  Responsibility.  The  Independent,  Novem- 
ber 21.     Reprinted  in  Vol.  II,  pp.  156-160. 

Liberty  and  Law.  The  Independent,  December  26. 
Reprinted  in  Vol.  II,  pp.  161-166. 

Do  We  Want  Industrl^l  Peace.?  Forum,  December, 
Vol.  VIII,  pp.  406-416.  Reprinted  in  Vol.  I,  pp  229^ 
243. 

Free  Trade.  UnpubHshed  manuscript  of  about  this 
date.  I.  Definitions  of  Protection  and  Protectionism. 
11.  The  Medieval  Doctrine  of  Commerce.  III.  The 
Sixteenth  Century.  IV.  The  Dynastic  States.  V.  Mer- 
cantilism and  the  Colonial  System.  VI.  The  New 
Doctrine.  VII.  Smithianismus.  VIII.  Protection  in 
the  United  States.  IX.  Nineteenth-century  Protec- 
tionism. X.  The  Present  Situation.  About  64  type- 
written pages.     (Sumner  Estate.) 


512  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

1889.  The    Strikes.     Unpublished    manuscript    written    some- 

time in  the  eighties,  21  typewritten  pages.  A  general 
survey  of  the  "labor  question."     (Sumner  Estate.) 

A  Parable.  Written  in  the  eighties.  Printed  for  the 
first  time  in  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  105-107. 

The  Sphere  of  Academical  Instruction.  Address 
delivered  at  the  celebration  of  a  school  anniversary. 
To  judge  "what  an  academy  is,  what  it  ought  to  do, 
and  how  it  ought  to  do  it;  and  to  judge  of  its  achieve- 
ments by  true  standards."  Unpublished  manuscript 
of  the  eighties,  27  pages.      (Sumner  Estate.) 

Integrity  in  Education.  An  address  delivered  in  Hart- 
ford probably  in  the  eighties.  Printed  for  the  first  time 
in  Vol.  IV,  pp.  409-419. 

Discipline.  Probably  in  the  eighties.  Printed  for  the 
first  time  in  Vol.  IV,  pp.  423-^38. 

The  Challenge  of  Facts.  Written  sometime  in  the 
eighties.  Original  title  was  Socialism.  Printed  for  the 
first  time  in  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  17-52. 

1890.  Alexander    Hamilton.    ("Makers    of    America.")    New 

York,  12mo.,  280  pp.,  Dodd,  Mead  &  Co. 
Liberty  and  Discipline.     The  Independent,  January  16. 

Reprinted  in  Vol.  II,  pp.  166-171. 
Does  Labor  Brutalize?     The  Independent,  February  20. 

Reprinted  in  Vol.  II,  pp.  187-193. 
Liberty  and  Property.     The  Independent,   March  27. 

Reprinted  in  Vol.  II,  pp.  171-176. 
Liberty  and  Opportunity.     The  Independent,  April  24. 

Reprinted  in  Vol.  II,  pp.  176-181. 
Why  I  Am  a  Free  Trader.    Twentieth  Century,  April  24, 

pp.  8-10. 
Can  We  Get  More  Money?     Frank  Leslie's  Illustrated 

Newspaper,  May  3,  Vol.  LXX,  No.  1807. 
Liberty  and  Labor.     The  Independent,  May  22.     Re- 
printed in  Vol.  II,  pp.  181-187. 
Proposed  Silver  Legislation.     Frank  Leslie's  Illustrated 

Newspaper,  May  24,  Vol.  LXX,  No.  1810,  p.  330. 
Liberty  and  Machinery.     The  Independent,   June   12. 

Reprinted  in  Vol.  II,  pp.  193-198. 
The    Disappointment    of   Liberty.     The    Independent, 

July  17.     Reprinted  in  Vol.  II,  pp.  198-203. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  513 

1890.  What  Emancipates.     The  Independent,  August  14.     Re- 

printed in  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  137-142. 

The  Demand  for  Men.  The  Independent,  September  11. 
Reprinted  in  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  111-116. 

The  Significance  of  the  Demand  for  Men.  The  In- 
dependent, October  16.  Reprinted  in  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  119- 
123. 

What  the  "Social  Question"  Is.  The  Independent, 
November  20.     Reprinted  in  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  127-133. 

1891.  The  Financier  and  the  Finances  of  the  American 

Revolution.^    New  York,  2  vols.,  Svo.,  309  and  330  pp. 

Liberte  des  Echanges.  Nouveau  Dictionnaire  d'Eco- 
nomie  Politique,  vol.  2,  pp.  138-166,  Guillaumin  et  Cie., 
Paris. 

Power  and  Progress.  The  Independent,  January  15. 
Reprmted  in  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  145-150. 

Consequences  of  Increased  Social  Power.  The  Inde- 
pendent, August  13.  Reprinted  in  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  153- 
158. 

1892.  Robert   Morris    ("Makers   of  America").     New   York, 

12mo.,  172  pp. 

1893.  Proposed  Classification  of  the  Social  Sciences.    A 

chart  printed  for  distribution  to  the  classes  in  Social 
Science  in  Yale  University.     "Not  published." 

1894.  The  Absurd  Effort  to  Make  the  World  Over.     Forum, 

March,  Vol.  XVII,  pp.  92-102.  Reprinted  in  Vol.  I, 
pp.  195-210. 

1895.  The    Venezuela   Message.     Letter   to    the   New   York 

Times,  December  18. 

1896.  History  of  Banking  in  the  United  States.     XV,  485  pp. 

Being  Vol.  I  of  A  History  of  Banking  in  all  the  Leading 
Nations. 

"Professor  Sumner  on  Yale."  Letter  to  The  Yale 
News,  January  20.  Learning  is  more  appreciated  here 
now  than  thirty  years  ago. 

The  Currency  Crisis.  A  course  of  six  lectures  given  at 
the  house  of  Mr.  John  E.  Parsons,  30  East  36th  St., 
New  York  City,  February  13  and  27  and  March  5,  12, 
19,  and  26.  What  the  lecturer  said,  as  well  as  the 
questions  and  answers  at  the  end  of  his  lectures,  was 
taken  down  in  shorthand  and  typewritten.     Mr.  Herbert 


514  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

1896.       Parsons  has  the  transcript  in  bound  form,  and  the  Yale 
University  Library  also  has  a  copy.     (Sumner  Estate.) 

The  Tril\sury  as  a  Baxk  of  Issue  and  a  Silver  Ware- 
house. The  Bond  Record,  March,  Vol.  IV,  No.  2, 
pp.  87-89. 

An  Answer  to  Mr.  Tighe's  Letter  on  Yale's  Vene- 
zuEL.'LN  Attitude.  Letter  to  the  Yale  Alumni  Weekly, 
May  20,  Vol.  V,  No.  30,  pp.  1-2. 

The  Fallacy  of  Territorial  Extension.  Forum, 
June,  Vol.  XXI,  pp.  416-419.  Reprinted  in  Vol.  I, 
pp.  285-293. 

A  Few  Words.  Short  address  as  member  of  the  State 
Board  of  Education  at  the  graduating  exercises  of  the 
New  Haven  Normal  School,  June  18.     (Sumner  Estate.) 

The  Policy  of  Debasement.  "The  Battle  of  the  Stand- 
ards."    New  York  Journal,  July  29. 

The  Proposed  Dual  Org.'Lnization  of  Mankind.  Popu- 
lar Science  Monthly,  August,  Vol.  XLIX,  pp.  433^39. 
Reprinted  in  Vol.  I,  pp.  271-281. 

Prosperity  Strangled  by  Gold.  Leslie's  Weekly,  Aug- 
ust 20.     Reprinted  in  Vol.  IV,  pp.  141-145. 

Cause  and  Cure  of  Hard  Times.  Leslie's  Weekly, 
September  3.     Reprinted  in  Vol.  IV,  pp.  149-153. 

The  Free-coinage  Scheme  Is  Impracticable  at  Every 
Point.  Leslie's  Weekly,  September  10.  Reprinted 
in  Vol.  IV,  pp.  157-162. 

Delusion  of  the  Debtors.  Leslie's  Weekly,  Septem- 
ber 17.     Reprinted  in  Vol.  IV,  pp.  165-170. 

The  Crime  of  1873.  Leslie's  Weekly,  September  24. 
Reprinted  in  Vol.  IV,  pp.  173-180. 

The  Single  Gold  Standard.  Chautauquan,  October, 
Vol.  XXIV,  pp.  72-77. 

Banks  of  Issue  in  the  United  States.  Forum,  October, 
Vol.  XXII,  pp.  182-191. 

Earth  Hunger  or  the  Philosophy  of  Land  Grabbing. 
Printed  for  the  first  time  in  Vol.  II,  pp.  31-64. 

A  Free  Coinage  Catechism.  Reprinted  from  The 
Evening  Post,  The  Evening  Post  Publishing  Co.,  New 
York,  16  pp. 

Lectures  on  American  History,  Yale  University, 
1896-1897.  Notes  taken  by  J.  C.  Schwab.  MS. 
13  X  21  cm.     Yale  University  Library. 


BIBLIOGR-\PHY  515 

1896.  Advancing  Social  and  Politic-vl  Organizatiox  ix  the 
United  States.  1896  or  1S97.  Printed  for  the  first 
time  in  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  ^89-^44. 
1S9T.  The  Te.\cher's  Unconscious  Success.  Address  given 
at  a  dinner  held  in  honor  of  Mr.  Henn*  Barnard,  at 
Jewel  Hall,  Hartford,  January  'io.  Printed  for  the 
first  time  in  Vol.  II,  pp.  9-13. 

Monet  .vnd  Currency.  A  course  of  four  lectures  de- 
hvered  in  Boston.  I.  The  Anxiety  Lest  there  be  not 
Money  Enough.  II.  How  We  Resumed  Sp)ecie  Pay- 
ments in  1879.  What  We  Did  Not  Do.  III.  The 
Single  Gold  Standard  —  A  Beneficent  and  AccompUshed 
Fact.  IV.  Where  we  now  Stand  and  what  we  have  to 
Do.     Syllabus. 

Sociology.  A  course  of  six  lectures  given  in  Albany, 
February-  'i7.  March  6.  13,  "^0,  -^7,  and  April  3.  In- 
troduction. Individuality  and  Sociality.  Prt.>perty. 
Industriahsm  and  Militarism.  Population.  Mental  Re- 
action on  Experience.  Suggested  Books  for  a  Course 
of  Reading.     Syllabus. 

The  Origin  of  the  Doll.vr.  Pajxr  read  at  meeting  of 
the  British  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science 
at  Toronto,  August  19-'£o.     (Sumner  Estate.) 

Outline  of  a  Proposed  Curriculum  (,for  Yale  College^ 
4  pages  typewritten  manuscript.     ^Sumner  Estate.^ 

1898.  The    Sp.oasn    Dollar    and    the    Colonial    Shilling. 

American  Historical  Re^^ew,  Vol.  Ill,  Xo.  4.  pp.  607- 
619. 

Syijl.\bus  of  six  lectures  given  durmg  January-  and  Febru- 
ary' in  Plainfield.  X.  J.  I.  What  is  a  Free  Man  and  a 
Free  State?  II.  What  is  Demt.xTacy.'  III.  Aggrega- 
tions of  Wealth  and  Plutocracy.  IV.  The  Rich  and  the 
Poor.     V.  Woman.     VI.  Immigration. 

Lehter  il\s  been  a  Hero.  Letter  to  The  World,  New 
York.  June  15,  on  the  Joseph  Loiter  deal. 

The  Coin  Shilling  of  >L\ssachi  sktts  Bay.  Yale 
Review,  X^ovember,  Vol.  ML  pp.  "^47-464,  and  Febru- 
ary, 1899,  Vol.  VIL  pp.  405-4^0. 

1899.  The   Conquest  of  the   I'nited   Statf^   by   Sp.un.     A 

lecture  In^foro  the  Phi  Beta  Kn]i]ia  Society  of  Yale  I'ni- 
versitv.   January    16.      Yale   Liiw    Journal.    Vol.    VHI. 


516  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

1899.  No.  4,  pp.  1G8-193.   Boston,  D.  Estes  &  Co.,  32  pp.  23  cm. 
Reprinted  in  Vol.  I,  pp.  297-334. 

The  Power  and  Beneficence  of  Capital.  Proceedings 
of  the  Sixth  Annual  Convention  of  The  Savings  Banks 
Association  of  the  State  of  New  York,  held  at  the  Rooms 
of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  32  Nassau  Street,  New 
York,  May  10;  pp.  77-95.  J.  S.  Babcock,  New  York, 
printer.     Reprinted  in  Vol.  II,  pp.  337-353. 

1900.  First  Fruits  of  Expansion.    New  York  Evening  Post, 

April  14,  p.  13. 
The  Predicament  of  Sociological  Study.     Printed  for 

the  first  time  in  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  415-425.     Original  title  of 

manuscript  was  "Sociology."     Written  about  1900. 
Purposes    and    Consequences.     Printed    for    the    first 

time  in  Vol.  II,  pp.  67-75,     Written  sometime  between 

1900  and  1906. 
Rights.     Printed  for  the  first  time  in  Vol.  II,  pp.  79-83. 

Written  sometime  between  1900  and  1906. 
Equality.     Printed  for  the  first  time  in  Vol.  II,  pp.  87- 
89.     Written  sometime  between  1900  and  1906. 

1901.  The  Anthracite  Coal  Industry,  by  Peter  Roberts.     In- 

troduction by  W.  G.  Sumner.  New  York,  London,  Mac- 
millan  Co.,  261  pp.     Reprinted  in  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  387-388. 

Specimens  of  Investment  Securities  for  Class  Room 
Use.  New  Haven,  The  E.  P.  Judd  Co.,  32  pp.,  27 
X  35 5  cm.  Verbatim  reprints  of  a  large  number  of 
shares,  certificates,  bonds,  and  other  evidences  of  owner- 
ship of  debt,  without  independent  text  or  comment: 
collected  for  use  in  college  instruction. 

Trusts.     Journal  of  Commerce,  June  24. 

The  Predominant  Issue.  Burlington,  Vt.  Reprinted 
from  the  International  Monthly,  November,  Vol.  2,  pp. 
496-509.     Reprinted  in  Vol.  I,  pp.  337-352. 

The  Yakuts.  Abridged  from  the  Russian  of  Sieroshevski. 
Journal  of  the  Anthropological  Institute  of  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland,  Vol.  31,  pp.  65-110. 

1902.  Suicidal  Fanaticism  in  Russia.     The  Popular  Science 

Monthly,  March,  Vol.  LX,  pp.  442-447. 
The  Concentration  of  Wealth:    Its  Economic  Justi- 
fication.    The  Independent,  April-June.    Reprinted  in 
Vol.  Ill,  pp.  81-90. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  517 

1903.  Autobiographical  Sketch  of  William  Graham  Sumner. 

A  History  of  the  Class  of  1863,  Yale  College,  pp.  165- 
167,     New  Haven,   The  Tuttle,   Morehouse   &  Taylor 
Co.,  1905.     Reprinted  in  Vol.  II,  pp.  3-5. 
War.     Printed  for  the  first  time  in  Vol.  I,  pp.  3-40. 

1904.  Reply  to  a  Socialist  (The  Fallacies  of  Socialism). 

Collier's  Weekly,  October  29,  pp.  12-13.  Reprinted  in 
Vol.  Ill,  pp.  55-62. 

1905.  Lynch-law,  by  James  Elbert  Cutler.     Foreword  by  W.  G. 

Sumner.     New   York,    Longmans,    Green,    and   Co.,    v, 

287  pp.     Reprinted  in  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  383-384. 
Economics  and  Politics.     Printed  for  the  first  time  in 

Vol.  II,  pp.  318-333. 
The  Scientific  Attitude  of  Mind.     Address  to  initiates 

of  the  Sigma  Xi  Society,  Yale  University,  on  March  4. 

Printed  for  the  first  time  in  Vol.  II,  pp.  17-28. 

1906.  Protectionism  Twenty  Years  After.     (Title  given  by 

editor.)  Address  at  a  dinner  of  the  Committee  on 
Tariff  Reform  of  the  Tariff  Reform  Club  in  the  City  of 
New  York,  June  2.  Published  by  the  Reform  Club 
Committee  on  Tariff  Reform,  42  Broadway,  New  York, 
N.  Y.  Series  1906,  No.  4,  7  pp.,  August  15.  Reprinted 
in  Vol.  IV,  pp.  131-138. 

1907.  Folkways:    A  Study  of  the  Sociological  Importance  of 

Usages,  Manners,  Customs,  Mores,  and  Morals.     Bos- 
ton, Ginn  &  Co.,  v,  692  pp. 
Sociology  as  a  College  Subject.     American  Journal  of 
Sociologj%   March,   Vol.    12,   No.   5,  pp.   597-599.     Re- 
printed in  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  407-411. 

1908.  Decline  of  Confidence.     Annual  Financial  and  Com- 

mercial Review,  New  York  Herald,  January  2. 

1909.  What  is  Sane  Tariff  Reform?     Annual  Financial  and 

Commercial  Review,  New  York  Herald,  January  4. 

The  Fajvuly  and  Social  Change.  American  Journal  of 
Sociology,  March,  Vol.  14,  No.  5,  pp.  577-591.  Re- 
printed in  Vol.  I,  pp.  43-61. 

Witchcraft.  Forum,  May,  Vol.  XLI,  pp.  410-423. 
Reprinted  in  Vol.  I,  pp.  105-126. 

Autobiography  and  List  of  Books  Published.  Facsimile 
of  letter  and  photograph  in  The  Yale  Courant,  May, 
Vol.  XLV,  No.  7,  on  occasion  of  Sumner's  retirement. 


518  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

1909.  The   Status   of   Women   in   Chaldea,   Egypt,    India, 

JuDEA,  AND  Greece  to  the  Time  of  Christ.  Forum, 
August,  Vol.  XLII,  pp.  113-136.  Reprinted  in  Vol.  I, 
pp.  65-102. 
The  Mores  of  the  Present  and  the  Future.  Yale 
Review,  November,  Vol.  XVIII,  pp.  233-245.  Re- 
printed in  Vol.  I,  pp.  149-164. 

1910.  Religion   and   the   Mores.     American   Journal    of   So- 

ciology, March,  Vol.  15,  No.  5,  pp.  577-591.  Reprinted 
in  Vol.  I,  pp.  129-146. 

Comment  on  Willi.mvi  Graham  Sumner.  (Died  April  12.) 
The  Pioneer,  Henry  W.  Farman.  The  Teacher,  J,  C. 
Schwab.  The  Inspirer,  Irving  Fisher.  The  Idealist, 
Clive  Day.  The  Man,  Albert  G.  Keller.  The  Veteran, 
Richard  T.  Ely.     Yale  Review,  May,  Vol.  XIX,  pp.  1-12. 

Memorial  Addresses.  Delivered  June  19,  in  Lampson 
Lyceum,  Yale  University,  by  Otto  T.  Bannard,  Henry 
De  Forest  Baldwin,  and  Albert  Galloway  Keller. 
Printed  in  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  429-450. 


POSTHUMOUS 

1911.   War.     Yale  Review  (New  Series),  October,  Vol.  I,  No.  1, 
pp.  1-27.     Printed  in  Vol.  I,  pp.  3-40. 
War  and  Other  Essays.     New  Haven,  Yale  University 
Press,  381  pp. 

1913.  Earth  Hunger  or  the  Philosophy  of  Land  Grabbing. 

Yale  Review   (New  Series),  October,  Vol.  Ill,  No.   1, 
pp.  3-32.     Printed  in  Vol.  II,  pp.  31-64. 
Earth  Hunger  and  Other  Essays.    New  Haven,  Yale 
University  Press,  377  pp. 

1914.  The   Challenge   of  Facts   and   Other   Essays.     New 

Haven,  Yale  University  Press,  450  pp. 
1918.   The  Forgotten  Man  and  Other  Essays.     New  Haven, 
Yale  University  Press,  559  pp. 


INDEX 


INDEX 


In  the  following  index.  War  and  Other  Essays  is  referred  to  as  Vol.  I,  Earth 
Hunger  and  Other  Essays  as  Vol.  II,  The  Challenge  of  Facts  and  Other  Essays  as 
Vol.  Ill,  and  The  Forgotten  Man  and  Other  Essays  as  Vol.  IV.  References  in 
heavy  t^pe  are  essay  titles. 


AboUtion,  IV,  17-18,  319. 
Abolitionists,  IV,  320-321. 
Aborigines,  treatment  of,  I,  27,  33-35, 

273,  274,  306,  308;    II,  45. 
Absolutism,  democratic.  III,  305;  state, 

II,  130. 
Abstract  justice,  II,  219. 
ABSURD  EFFORT   TO    MAKE   THE 

WORLD  OVER,  I,  195-210. 
Academical  life,  IV,  423,  430. 
Academical  pursuits,  IV,  424. 
Academical  societies,  IV,  474. 
Achievement,  the  work  of.  III,  145-146. 
Act  of  1873,  IV,  165,  173-180. 
Adams,  John,  III,  378;    IV,  291,  293, 

294,  296,  381. 
Adams,  John  Quincy,  IV,  304-305,  340, 

343,  347,  348,  350,  351. 
Administrative  reform,  III,  372-374. 
Adults,  demand  for,  III,  113-114. 
Advancement,  I,  179. 
Advancing    comfort,     period     of,     II, 

201-202. 
Advancing   industrial   organization,    I, 

196-199. 
Advancing     social     organization,     11, 

286-287;   III,  315-317. 
ADVANCING  SOCIAL  AND  POLIT- 
ICAL   ORGANIZATION    IN     THE 

UNITED  STATES,  III,  289-344. 
Africa,  III,  300;    IV,  71;    colonization 

of,   II,  42;    exploitation  of,   I,   273; 

II,  51. 
Aggrandizement,  territorial,  I,  286. 
Agriculture,   III,   39;    IV,   76;    status 

of  women  under,  I,  65. 
Air,  II,  240. 
Alabama,  IV,  55. 


Alarmists,  III,  341,  342-343. 

Albany  Argus,  IV,  303. 

Albany  Regency,  IV,  327,  351,  355.  362. 

Alchemist,  IV,  13,  19-20. 

Alchemy,  IV,  18. 

Aleatory  element,  I,  116,  119-120. 

Algeria,  IV,  59. 

Allodial  land  tenure.  III,  312. 

Almsgiving,  III,  68,  74,  75. 

Alternate  standard,  IV,  193,  195,  197, 

198,  209. 
Altruism,  II,  130. 
America,  discovery  of,  II,  41^2,  315; 

III,    153-154;     Political   Growth  of, 

III,  248-249. 

AMERICA,  POLITICS  IN,  1776-1876, 

IV,  285-333. 

American  college,  what  it  ought  to  be, 

1,370-371,372-373. 
American    colleges,    improvement    in, 

I,  356. 
American    colonies,    the,    I,    274-276; 

III,  248-253,  290-325;    IV,  285,  288. 
American    commonwealth,    conception 

of  the,  I,  332-334;   II,  56. 
American  culture,  IV,  294. 
American  history  contrasted  with  Euro- 
pean, III,  292-293,  307. 
American  Indians,  the,  I,  6-7,  12,  15, 

33,  44,  50,  309;  II,  137,  138;  III,  230, 

249,  250. 
American  institutions.  III,  244. 
American  life,  IV,  241-242. 
American  politics,  history  of,  IV,  339. 
American  principles,  I,  326-329. 
American  shipping,  IV,  273-278. 
American   Social    Science   Association, 

the,  II,  217. 


521 


522 


INDEX 


American  traditions.  III,  353-354,  355. 

Americanism,  I,  346. 

Americans,  IV,  123,  125-126,  132,  300; 

what  they  cannot  do,  I,  329-331. 
Ames,  Fisher,  IV,  292. 
Analogy,  IV,  199,  204,  206;   argument 

from,  IV,  199. 
Anarchistic   liberty,   II,   119,   131-132, 

161,  198,  199,  200,  203;  III,  292,  317, 

336. 
Anarchists,  II,  112. 
Anarchy    and    liberty    contrasted,    II, 

164-165. 
Ancient  Germans,  the,  I,  21,  155. 
Anglo-American  law.  III,  215,  218. 
Anthracite  coal  industry.  III,  387-388. 
"ANTHRACITE    COAL   INDUSTRY, 

THE,"      FOREWORD      TO,      III, 

387-388. 
Anti-federalists,  the.  III,  307,  327-328; 

IV,  289. 
Anti-masonic  movement,  IV,  311. 
Anti-slavery,  I,  151. 
Appointing  power,  IV,  307. 
Apprentices,  IV,  486,  487. 
A  priori  method,  the,  III,  400,  401. 
A  priori  philosophers,  III,  244-245. 
Arbitration,  I,  328. 
Aristocracy,  IV,  291,  292;  definition  of, 

II,  290;    III,  302-303,  305;   Popular 
Dislike  of  All,  III,  265-267. 

Aristotle,  I,  99;   II,  113,  114. 

Army,  IV,  104. 

Arnold,  Matthew,  IV,  425. 

Art  of  politics.  III,  246-247. 

Art  of  production,  IV,  104. 

Art  of  recitation,  I,  366. 

Articles  of  Confederation,  IV,  289, 

Artificial  environment,  II,  251. 

Artificial  monopoly,  II,  135, 247;  IV,  282. 

Artisans,  II,  292;   IV,  58,  72,  88. 

Arts,  IV,  49,  58,  87,  402;  advance  or 
improvement  in  the,  I,  187-189;  II, 
32,  42,  197,  198,  236,  358-360;  III, 
23,  153,  170-174,  338;    stage  of  the, 

III,  22-23. 

Astor,  John  Jacob,  I,  339;  III,  83. 
Astrology,  IV,  18. 
Atlantic,  IV,  57. 
Atlantic  States,  IV,  52. 


Atomism,  II,  127-128. 
Australia,  IV,  55,  71,  85;   the  coloniza- 
tion of,  II,  42. 
Australians,  the,  I,  3-4,  7,  10,  44,  46; 

III,  303. 

Autocracy,  definition  of,  II,  290. 

Babylonia,  status  of  women  in,  I,  69-71. 

Bache,  IV,  298. 

Balance-of-power  doctrine,  the,  I,  274, 

278;   II,  59. 
Baldwin,  Henry  de  Forest,  MEMORIAL 

ADDRESS  by.  III,  432-439. 
Ballot,  the.  III,  231,  232-234,  236-238. 
Bank,   IV,  313,  393-394;    convention, 

IV,  384,  385;  local,  IV,  359;  national, 
IV,  313,  315;  of  England,  IV,  177, 
379,  384,  387;  of  the  United  States, 
IV,  259,  313,  340,  352-354,  355,  356, 
358,  359,  360-361,  372-374,  377, 
379,  380,  381-382,  385,  386,  387, 
388-390,  391,  395;   state,  IV,  380. 

Bannard,  Otto  T.,  MEMORIAL  AD- 
DRESS by.  III,  429-431. 

BANQUET  OF  LIFE,  THE,  II,  217-221. 

"  Banquet  of  life,"  the,  II,  210-211, 
217-221,  233;   III,  112,  115. 

Barny's,  IV,  379. 

Bastiat,  Frederic,  IV,  98-99. 

Bateman,  IV,  48. 

Bedouin  type,  the,  II,  140. 

Beggars,  I,  248-249. 

Belgium,  IV,  48. 

Belief  in  ^-itchcraft,  1, 125;  11,  21-22. 

Belief  that  "  something  must  be  done," 
II,  327. 

Bellamy,  Edward,  I,  205,  206. 

Beloch,  J.,  I,  100-101. 

Benton,  Thomas  H.,  IV,  319,  358,  383. 

Bequest,  III,  42-44. 

Berlin,  IV,  60. 

Bessemer  steel,  IV,  222. 

Bevan  and  Humphreys,  IV,  382,  387. 

Bicknell's  Reporter,  IV,  393. 

Biddle,  Nicholas,  IV,  259,  353,  379, 
381,  384,  385,  386,  389;  and  Hum- 
phreys, IV,  385,  386,  387. 

Bimetallism,  IV,  141,  193,  195,  196, 
197, 198,  201,  202-210,  234-235. 

Biography,  the  study  of,  II,  179. 


INDEX 


523 


Bismarck,  Prince,  IV,  59. 

"  Black  Friday."  IV,  198. 

Blaine,  James  G.,  Ill,  368. 

Blair,  Senator,  III,  187. 

Bland  Silver  Bill,  III,  186-187. 

Blood  revenge,  I,  ii,  £3. 

Boers,  the,  I,  342;   II,  54. 

Bolsheviki,  the,  IV',  462. 

Bonds  of  the  social  order.  III,  315,  325. 

Book-men,  the,  IV,  363,  365. 

Booms,    IV,    152-153;     exploded,    IV, 

169-170. 
BOON  OF  NATURE,  THE,  II.  233-238. 
"  Boon  of  nature,"   the,    II,    210-211, 

218.   233-238;    III,    115;    disproved 

by  American  history,  II,  238;    III, 

291-292. 
Boot-man,  the,  IV,  44-45. 
Boss,  the,  IV,  327-329. 
Boston  Massacre,  the,  III,  330. 
Boston  Tea  Party,  the,  III,  330. 
Bounties,  IV,  12,  60-63,  65. 
Bourgeoisie,  the,  II,  313,  314;    III,  161, 

163-165. 
Boutwell,  G.  S.,  IV,  175. 
Boycott,  the,  I,  224-225;  III,  100-101. 
Bradstreet's,  IV,  29,  60. 
Bride-price,  the,  I,  66,  68,  74. 
Brotherhood  of  man,  IV,  403. 
Broderick,  G.  C,  IV,  48. 
Brutus,  IV,  366. 
Bryan,  W.  J.,  IV,  160,  173. 
Buddha,  I,  134. 
Buddhism,  I,  25,  136,  140. 
Bureau  of  Agriculture,  IV,  86. 
Bureaucracy,  definition  of,  II,  290;    in 

Germany,  II,  302;  IV,  481. 
Bureaus,  the  federal.  III,  278. 
Burgh,  IV,  285. 

Burr,  Aaron,  IV,  296,  303,  307. 
Bushmen,  the,  I,  7,  10,  46;  III,  303. 
Business  and  politics,  IV,  135. 
Butler,  General,  III,  378. 

Caesar,  IV,  366,  367. 
Ceesarism,  III,  239,  275,  276. 
Cairnes,  J.  E.,  IV,  101,  196. 
Calamities,  IV,  29-30,  43. 
Calhoun,  John  C,   IV,   312,  318-310, 
320,  329,  340,  341,  347,  355. 


California.  IV,  85;  acquisition  of,  I, 
341.  342. 

Callender,  IV,  294,  298. 

Cameron,  Senator,  III,  368;    IV,  65. 

Campaign,  political,  I,  .337;  IV,  29,  49, 
95;  anti-corn-law.  IV'.  107;  of  1840. 
IV,  315-316. 

Canada,  I,  289-290;  II,  50-51;  IV, 
56,  67,  68,  94,  150. 

Cannibalism,  I,  19-20. 

Canon  law,  I,  144;  and  marriage,  I,  59. 

Capital,  I,  160,  186,  207,  248;  II,  144, 
145,  147,  177,  187,  210,  226-227, 
236,  252,  266,  207,  268.  288-289,  295, 
306,  341-342,  344-345,  347.  348. 
350,  358-300;  III.  20-22,  26-28, 
35-36,  38-39,  40-42,  43-44,  61,  123, 
127,  128,  130,  132,  156-157,  201, 
422-423;  IV,  19,  20,  21,  25,  36, 
37-38,  40,  49,  70,  74,  96,  106,  119, 
123,  127,  219.  220,  227-228,  262, 
475-476,  494;  accumulation  of,  I, 
202-203;  II,  349-352;  III,  42,  172; 
and  civilization.  III,  27,  422-423; 
and  industry.  III,  41-42;  and  labor, 
the  redistribution  of,  I,  239-241; 
and  the  state,  II,  306;  legisla- 
tion regarding.  III,  27-28;  the 
asserted  natural  right  to,  II,  226-227; 
the  dignity  of,  II,  297-298;  the 
metaphysical  side  of,  II,  359-360; 
the  power  of,  II,  297,  329. 

CAPITAL,  THE  POWER  AND 
BENEFICENCE  OF,  II,  337-353. 

Capitalism,  I,  200-207;  III,  76-77. 

Capitalists,  III,  170,  172. 

Captains  of  industry,  I,  199-200,  201; 

II,  134,  297-298,  329-330,  331-332; 

III,  83,  84;   IV,  99,  218. 
Care,  II,  149. 

Carlovingians,  the.  III,  119-120. 
CathoUc  church  and  witchcraft,  I,  123. 
Caucus,    IV.   303-304,    310,   311,   315, 

339,  340. 
CAUSE  AND  CURE  OF  HARD  TIMES, 

IV,  149-153. 

Celibacy,  I,  53-54,  59-60,  79. 
Census,  IV,  47,  49,  78. 
Centralization    in    the    United   States, 
III,  316-317. 


524 


INDEX 


Cernuschi,  Henri,  IV,  193. 

Chaldea,  status  of  women  in,  I,  69,  70, 

71. 
CHALLENGE  OF  FACTS,  THE,  III, 

17-52. 
Chance,    II,    176-178,    180,    196-197; 

III.  36. 
Character,  II,  11-12,  178,  265;   IV,  48, 

412-413. 
Charity,  IV,  477,  492. 
Charles  II,  IV,  34. 
Chartered  rights,  II,  222-223. 
Checks  and  balances,   the  system  of, 

III,  283-284. 
Checks  on  progress,  II,  35-37,  163. 
Chemistry,  IV,  432. 
Chicanery,  III,  231,  258. 
Child  labor,  II,  100. 
ChUdren,     II,     95,     96,     97,     98-101, 

104-105;    III,    18-19,    113-114;    an 

asset,    I,    66-67;     III,    295-296;     a 

burden,    I.    65-67;      III.     113-114; 

and  parents,   the   rights  and  duties 

of,  II,  95-102;    and  state  protection, 

II,  100;     education  of,  II,    98-101; 
how   regarded,    I,    66-67;     love   for, 

III,  42,  43-44;  position  of,  in  monog- 
amy, II,  255,  256,  257,  265. 

Chili,  IV,  69. 

China,  I,  343-344;   II,  55;   IV,  53,  54, 

92,  135,  207. 
Chivalry,  II,  19. 
Christian  family,  the,  I,  52. 
Christian  view  of  marriage,  I,  52-54. 
Christianity,   I,   25-26,    134,    137-138; 

and  witchcraft,   I,  112;    doctrines  of 

natural     rights     in,      II,      114-117; 

slavery  in  early,  II,  114-115,  116-118; 

medieval,  I,   140;    status  of  women 

in  early,  I,  52-60. 
Church,  the,  III,  203-204;    and  state, 

I,  131,   162;    II,  18-19,  310;  IV,  18, 

38;  CathoUc,  I,  123;  medieval,  1, 133; 

III,  74;   modern,  I,  139;  III.  81. 
Cicero,  III,  305. 

Circulation,    monetary,    IV,    157-159; 
concurrent,     IV,     183-210;     forced, 

IV.  191. 
City  life,  I,  156. 
City  police.  III,  329. 


City,  the  modern.  III,  169-170, 27&-279, 
420. 

Civil  holidays.  III,  360. 

Civil  institutions,  IV,  487. 

Civil  liberty,  II,  124,  128-129.  182, 
198-199,  202;  III,  26,  44-45,  226, 
238-240,  276,  336;  IV,  110,  469, 
470,  471-474;  and  the  individual, 
II,  168-169;  a  matter  of  law  and 
institutions,  II,  160.  166;  defini- 
tion of,  II,  126-127;  IV,  230-231, 
472;  relation  of,  to  individual 
liberty,  II,  169-170;  the  cost  of, 
II,  128;  III,  239. 

CIVIL  LIBERTY,  WHAT  IS?  II, 
109-130. 

Civil  officers.  III,  267-268. 

Civil  service.  Ill,  208-270;    abuse  of, 

II.  303-304;  reform.  III,  262-263, 
279-280,  308. 

Civil  Service  Commission,  the,  II,  277. 

Civil  strife.  III,  361. 

Civil  War,  the,  I,  31,  32,  217,  219,  311; 

III,  277,  316,  321,  329-330,  333,  349, 
351-354,  359-362,  398-400;  IV,  175, 
223,  323-324,  330. 

Civilization,  II,  83,  139.  180.  220-221, 
249-253,  340-341,  342,  344-345; 
III,  23,  420-421;  IV,  53-54,  93,  217, 
221-223,  233;  and  capital.  III,  27, 
422-423;  and  hberty,  II.  132,  147, 
149-150,    175,    362;    and   monopoly, 

II,  249-253;  and  war,  I,  16,  34-35; 
classical,  II,  252,  296;  danger  to 
modern,  I,  190;  modern,  II,  296-297; 
offsets  to  the  gains  of,  I,  190;  the 
advance  of,  II,  344-345;    of  Egypt, 

III,  146-147;  rights  a  product  of,  II, 
83;  share  in  the  gains  of,  II,  358-360; 
III,  21-22;  the  origin  of,  II,  137-138; 
the  triumph  of,  II,  357-358;  III,  421; 
the  cost  of,  III,  208. 

Civilized  man,  the  freedom  of.  III,  26. 

Civilized  nations,  the  peace-institu- 
tions of,  I,  20-24. 

Civilized  society,  the  organization  of, 
II,  144-145,  250,  251,  252,  253, 
283-287. 

Civilizing  mission,  I,  303-305. 

Clamor,  I,  223;  III,  185-190. 


INDEX 


5^5 


CLAMOR,  LEGISLATION  BY,  III, 
185-190. 

Class  hatred,  IV,  25S. 

Class  jealousies,  IV,  402-403. 

Classes,  II,  291,  293;  III,  131;  con- 
servative, IV,  364-365,  366,  367; 
distinguished.  III,  308-309;  indus- 
trial, II,  191;  III,  36;  leisure.  III, 
281;  non-capitalist,  IV,  12;  pat- 
ronizing the  working,  I,  250;  petted, 
IV,  494;  responsible  and  irrespon- 
sible, II,  98,  99,  103;  burdens  of  the 
responsible,  II,  216;  servile,  II,  38- 
39;  social,  I,  241;  II,  40-tl;  III, 
68-71,  129-130;  156-157,  307-309, 
392;  wages-.  III,  94-97,  169,  170; 
IV,  44-45,  71-72;  working,  I,  249- 
250;  struggle  of  the,  II,  312-317; 
III,  129-132. 

Classical  civilization,  II,  252,  296. 

Classical  culture,  I,  367;  the  decline 
of,  I,  157-158. 

Classical  education,  I,  358-360,  362-370, 
372-373;  limitations  of,  I,  365-370. 

Classical  slavery,  II,  112-114,  296. 

Classics,  the,  I,  362-370,  372-373. 

Clay,  Henry,  IV,  312,  316,  319,  341, 
347,  348,  356,  357,  373. 

Cleveland,  President,  I,  278;   II,  59. 

Clinton,  De  Witt,  IV,  305,  306,  307. 

Cloth,  IV,  39,  47;  -man,  IV,  44-45. 

Coal,  IV,  33-35,  48,  56,  85,  90,  132; 
heavers,  II,  194;    owners,  IV,  34-35. 

Cobden,  Richard,  IV,  70. 

Codeof  a  legislative  body.  III,  280-281. 

Codes  of  morals,  two,  1, 11. 

Coin,  IV,  54;  contracts,  IV,  167. 

Coinage,  IV,  173-177;  Act  of  1834,  IV, 
374;  Act  of  1873,  IV,  165,  173-180; 
union,  IV,  184, 191-193, 196,  197-198, 
199,  209,  234-235. 

College  education  not  desired,  I, 
357-358. 

College  electives  system,  I,  361-362. 

College  officers,  I,  360-361. 

College,  the,  and  national  life,  I,  360. 

COLLEGES,  OUR,  BEFORE  THE 
COUNTRY,  I,  355-373. 

Colonial  anarchistic  element,  the,  III, 
323,  324-326,  328-331. 


Colonial  class  distinctions.  III,  297. 
Colonial  history  of  the  United  States, 

III,  248-253,  290-323. 
Colonial    industrial    organization.    III, 

294. 
Colonial    lack    of    organization.     III, 

324-325. 
Colonial  land  tenure.  III,  312. 
Colonial     liberty.     III,     317-322;      a 

necessity.    III,    318;     restraint    on, 

III,  318-319. 
Colonial  office-seekers,  IV,  286. 
Colonial    period,    review    of    the.    III, 

322-323. 
Colonial  policies,  I,  274. 
Colonial  political  liberty.  III,  320-321. 
Colonial  religious  sympathy.  III,   314, 

315. 
Colonial      social      organization.      III, 

310-323. 
Colonial     society     of     America,     III, 

290-323. 
Colonial  system,  the,  I,  274-275,  278; 

II,  49-50,  53,  57,  60;  IV,  12,  59; 
of  England,  I,  275,  313,  315,  316, 
317;  III.  323;  of  Spain,  I,  306-310, 
318,  319. 

Colonial  towns.  III,  313-315,  318-319. 
Colonial    wars    with    the    French    and 

Indians,  III,  250,  251. 
Colonies,    the    American,    I,    274-276; 

III,  248-253,  290-323;  IV,  285,  288; 
independence  of,  I,  275-276;  slavery 
in.  III,  250,  298,  301-304;  not  pure 
democracies,  III,  297-298;  political 
equality  in.  III,  249-250;  political 
institutions  of,  III,  249. 

Colonies,  the  burden  of,  II,  51-52. 

Colonies,  the  Spanish-American,  I, 
276,  306;    II,  57-58. 

Colonists,  I,  273-274,  275;  II,  47-48; 
early  American,  II,  238;  III,  291-292; 
character  of  the  American,  III,  319- 
320;  liberty  of  the  American,  III, 
317-322. 

Colonization.  I,  272-275;  of  Africa, 
II,  42;  of  Australia,  II,  42;  the 
burden  of,  I,  292-293;  the  philoso- 
phy, of,  II,  43-45. 

Combinations,  IV,  99,  258-259. 


526 


INDEX 


Comfort,  II,  201-202;  HI,  123,  139, 
170;  material,  IV,  239,  240;  standard 
of,  IV,  32,  47,  50,  76,  106. 

Commerce,  IV,  66,  68,  76,  137,  214-215, 
219;  foreign,  IV,  275,  276,  277-282; 
the  regulation  of.  III,  323,  326. 

COMMERCIAL  CRISES,  THE  IN- 
FLUENCE OF,  ON  OPINIONS 
ABOUT  ECONOMIC  DOCTRINES, 
IV.  213-235. 

COMMERCIAL  CRISIS  OF  1837,  IV, 
371-398. 

Commercial  crisis,  IV,  49. 

Conmiercial  revolution,  the,  I,  141. 

Commercial  treaty,  IV,  64-69. 

Commercial  war,  IV,  95-96. 

Commercium  and  connubiutn,  I,  13. 

Committee,  Congressional,  IV,  22,  77. 

Committee  legislation,  III,  261, 281-282. 

Committees  of  Safety,  IV,  286. 

Commodities,  IV,  189,  192-193,  200. 

Conmion  aims,  convictions,  and  prin- 
ciples, III,  357-359. 

Common  school  system,  the.  III,  357; 
IV.  416. 

Communalism,  II,  261. 

Conmaunication,  improvements  in,  I, 
187-189;   111,85. 

Communism,  III,  47-48. 

Competent  management.  III,  81-90. 

Competition,  II,  133,  135,  210;  III, 
67-68,  177,  179;  IV,  75,  79,  88,  95, 
99;  and  combination,  I,  8;  and 
war,  I,  9-10,  14;  of  life,  I,  9,  176-177, 
178,  184;   II,  79.  82;   III,  25,  26,  30. 

Comte,  Auguste,  III,  208. 

Concubines,  I,  47,  67,  68,  69,  75,  85,  91. 

CONCURRENT  CIRCULATION  OF 
GOLD  AND  SILVER,  IV,  183-210. 

Confiscation,  III,  76. 

Congo,  IV,  67. 

Congress,  III,  178,  187,  275;  IV,  22, 
25,  27-29,  35,  43,  49,  65,  68,  94,  96, 
136,  173-174,  175,  285,  329,  330, 
342,  358,  359-360,  383,  385. 

Congressional  election,  III,  272-273. 

Congressional  Globe,  II,  307. 

Congressional  Record,  II,  287. 

Conjuncture,  III,  141;  of  the  market, 
1,200-201;   ni,  121-122. 


Connecticut,  III,  314-315;  IV,  37,  72,  86. 

Connubium,  I,  13,  17. 

Consequences,   II,   67-69,   70,   71,   72, 

73,  74,  75;    III,  46,  193,  198;    and 

motives,  I,  15. 
CONSEQUENCES    OF    INCREASED 

SOCIAL  POWER,  III,  153-158. 
CONSEQUENCES,  PURPOSES  AND, 

II,  67-75. 

Conservatism,  III,  207-208,  286;    IV, 

366. 
Consolidation,  III,  316. 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  I, 

310,   311.    313,    314,   315;     II,   333; 

III,  251,  252-255,  306-307,  325-326, 
329,  396-397;  IV,  289,  291,  292, 
297,  304,  319,  320,  331-332,  344, 
348-349,  360,  367;  and  democracy, 
m,  334-336. 

Constitutional     Convention    of     1787, 

III,  332. 
Constitutional  government,  I.  163. 
Constitutional  liberty,  IV,  258. 
Constitutional  monarchies.  III,  225-226. 
Constitutional  question,  the,  I,  313-314. 
Constitutional  republic,  IV,   290,  296, 

331. 
Constitutionalism,  IV,  349,  363,  365. 
Constitution-makers,     the.     III,     140, 

251-255,  256,  306-307,  325-326,  334. 
Constitutions,  III,  140. 
Consuls,  IV,  78. 

Consumer,  IV,  21,  33-34,  82,  101,  104. 
Consuming  industries,  IV,  38-39. 
Consumption,  IV,  465. 
Content,  IV,  239. 
Contingent  interest.  Ill,  196-197. 
Contract,  I,  233-234;   II,  152,  185-186; 

III,  101,  196,  197;   free,  I,  226,  234; 

IV,  143,  152,  252. 

Contracts,  the  obligation  of.  III,  326. 
Convention,  Home    Industry,    IV,  57; 

Woolgrowers',  IV,  34. 
Convict-labor,     II,     102;      laws.     III, 

188-189. 
Cooperation,  11,    284,    285,  319;    III, 

41-42. 
COOPERATIVE  COMMONWEALTH, 

THE,   IV,    441-462. 
Copper,  IV,  35,  42,  96,  207. 


INDEX 


527 


Copyrights,  II,  246-e47. 

Corn  laws,  IV,  76. 

Corner.  IV,  197-198,  200. 

Cosmopolitanism,  IV,  66. 

Cotton,  IV,  33,  36,  47,  55.  85,  97,  374, 

378,  38:2,  385,  386,  387. 
Country  and  town,  I,  155-157. 
Courtesans,  I,  76,  90,  91,  94. 
Crawford,    William    II,    IV,    303-304, 

308,  339-340,  347,  S55. 
Credit,  IV,  109,  177-178,  220,  376,  396; 

system,  IV,  96,  383,  395-396. 
Creditor,       IV,       143-144,       166-167, 

175-176,  190,  191.  192-193. 
Crevecoeur,  St.  Jean  de,  III,  297. 
Crime  of  '73,  the,  IV,  170. 
Criminals,   I.   260;    II,   102;   m,   358; 

IV,  483-485. 
Crises,  I,  200;   IV,  213-235. 
Crisis,  IV,   150-151;    commercial,   IV, 

49,  371-398;    of  1873,  IV,  223;    of 

1893,  IV,  150. 
Critical  temper,  the,  II,  26-27. 
Criticism,  the  need  of,  II,  21,  22-24,  28. 
Crown,  the.  II,  312-313. 
Crusades,  the,  I,  33;   II,  19. 
Crusoe,    Robinson,    used   as    an   illus- 
tration, II.  237. 
Cuba,  I,  290-291,  299;   II.  55-57;   IV, 

63,   64;    the  acquisition  of,   I,   342. 
Cult-group    and    the    peace-group,    I, 

24-26. 
Cultivation,  margin  of,  IV.  87. 
Culture,  IV,  425-426,  429,  433. 
Cunningham,  IV,  84,  97,  100. 
Currency,  IV,  141,  167-162,  173,  176, 

397;      depreciated,     IV,     190,     191; 

inflation  of  the,  IV,  175,  396;   ques- 
tion, IV,  330. 
Custom,    customs,    I,    129,    135;     IV, 

189-190. 

Dalzell,  John,  II,  328;    IV,  136. 
Danton,  Georges  Jacques,  II,  122. 
Death,  II,  228,  231,  312;   III,  30,  38. 
Debt,  IV,  109,  177-178,  390;  of  war  of 

1812,  IV,  372;   "slavery"  of,  II,  136, 

145. 
DEBTORS,     THE     DELUSION     OF 

THE,  IV,  165-170. 


Debtors,  IV,  143-144, 166-170,  175-176, 
190,  191,  192-193,  194,  200,  466. 

Decade  1830-1840,  IV.  371. 

Declaration  of  Independence,  the,  I, 
162;  III,  158,  252,  302,  306. 

Deductive  method,  the.  III,  401. 

Definitions,  Fundamental,  III,  246-247. 

"  Degradation  of  mankind,"  the.  III, 
148-150. 

Delusions,     II,     233;      Revolutionary, 

III,  329-331. 
Demagogues,  III,  277. 

Demand,  II,  225;   III,  97-98,  119.  121; 

IV.  70,  141,  196,  198,  201,  204.  214, 
251,  252;   economic.  III,  114. 

"  Demand  for  labor,"  the.  III,  115. 

Demand  for  men,  the,  II,  31-32;  HI, 
111-116,  119-123,  132,  140-141,  145, 
154,  157,  171. 

DEMAND  FOR  MEN,  THE,  III, 
111-116. 

DEMAND  FOR  MEN,  THE  SIGNIF- 
ICANCE OF  THE,  III,  119-123. 

Democracies,   III,  223-225,  226. 

Democracy,  I,  26-27,  151,  159-160,  183, 
203-208,  302.  303-305;  II,  42.  43, 
289,  306-311,  313-317;  III,  82-83, 
94,  132,  140.  211-212.  226.  256, 
264-275;  IV,  71,  258,  289-290,  291, 
292,  300,  306,  332.  349,  352,  357, 
363,  364,  365;  and  the  Constitution, 
III,  334-336;  and  imperialism,  I, 
322.  325,  326;  and  mUitarism, 
the  antagonism  of,  I,  322-323;  and 
organization,  UI,  266-267;  and 
plutocracy.    I,    160,    204,    325-326; 

II,  299-300,  329;  and  Wealth,  III, 
274-275;  checks  on.  III,  334-335; 
dangers  to,  II,  304-305;  definition 
of,  II,  290;  293;  III,  302-303,  305; 
degenerate  form  of.  III,  305-306; 
delegate  of  a.  III,  260-261;  dogmas 
of.  III,  305-306;  dogmatic.  III,  308; 
fear  of.    III,   306-307,   334;     Greek. 

III,  303;  inevitable  here.  III, 
249-250,  273-274,  286,  296,  304, 
338-339;  Jacksonian,  IV,  363;  Jef- 
fersonian,  II,  306-307;  nature  of, 
in  the  United  States,  I,  324-325; 
Needed,    III,    273-274;     Pure,    III, 


528 


INDEX 


256-257;  Pure,  in  Cities,  III, 
257-259;  Popular,  Lingering  Evils 
of.  III,  262-263;  representative, 
ni,  260-275;  representative,  the 
weaknesses  of.  III,  270-271;  the 
new,  I,  220-223;  town.  III,  256-260, 
262,  266,  267;  untried,  I,  204-206; 
weakness  of,  II,  299-300,  309. 

DEMOCRACY,  SOCIAL  WAR  IN, 
II,  312-317. 

DEMOCRACY,  THE  CONFLICT  OF 
PLUTOCRACY  AND,  II,  296-300. 

DEMOCRACY  AND  MODERN 
PROBLEMS,  II,  301-305. 

DEMOCRACY  AND  PLUTOCRACY, 
II,  283-289. 

DEMOCRACY  AND  PLUTOCRACY, 
DEFINITIONS  OF,  II,  290-295. 

DEMOCRACY  AND  RESPONSIBLE 
GOVERNMENT,  III,  243-286. 

"  Democracy  of  industry,"  the,  II,  323. 

Democratic  absolutism.  III,  305. 

Democratic-aristocracy,  III,  303-304. 

Democratic  Fears,  III,  261-262. 

Democratic  party,  the,  I,  160;  IV,  312, 
313,  316,  318,  319,  320,  321,  322-323, 
363. 

Democratic  republic,  IV,  330;  nature 
of  a,  II,  301-302,  303,  305,  308. 

Democratic  temper  here.  III,  335-336. 

Democratic  tide,  IV,  321-322. 

Democrats,  IV,  297,  317,  319. 

Demonetization,  IV,  176. 

Demonism,  II,  21,  22. 

Demos,  the,  II,  290-291,  293. 

Dependencies,  I,  316-317,  345;  the 
United  States  and,  I,  310,  311-312, 
317-319. 

Depreciation,  IV,  179. 

Destiny,  I,  341-342;  II,  364;  "  mani- 
fest," I,  341,  342;  II,  54. 

Device,  IV,  11-12,  15,  16,  21,  24,  25, 
64-65,  73,  79. 

Dexter,  Samuel,  IV,  295. 

Digger  Indians,  the,  III,  40. 

Dignity  of  capital,  the,  II,  297-298. 

"  Dignity  of  labor,"  the,  II,  189,  297. 

Dilettanti,  I,  170;   225-226. 

Diminishing  returns,  the  law  of,  I, 
175-176. 


Dio  Chrysostom,  II,  114. 
Diplomacy,  III,  358;  IV,  66-67,  68-69. 
Discipline,  II,  144,  250,  251,  301,  302; 

III,  336,  337;  IV,  98-99,  409,  417, 
426,  428,  431,  433-438;  and  liberty, 
II,  170-171,  200;  and  war,  I,  14,  15; 
military,  I,  30;  school,  I,  368;  the 
need  of,  II,  170-171. 

DISCIPLINE,  IV,  423-438. 

DISCIPLINE,  LIBERTY  AND,  11, 
166-171. 

Discontent,  IV,  149,  241;  and  pros- 
perity, II,  337-338. 

Discoveries,    the    great,    I,    203,    209; 

II,  35, 163,  228-229;  IV,  402. 
Disease,  II,  238,  231,  312;   III,  30,  38; 

IV,  465;  industrial,  IV,  96,  219-220; 
social,  I,  171-172;  II,  275. 

Distress,  IV,  26,  149,  153,  221. 
Distributive  justice,  II,  89. 
Dividends,  IV,  87,  90. 
Division  of  departments.  III,  283. 
Divorce,  I,  68,  69,  77-78,  79,  86,  93; 

III,  410. 

Doctrine,  quantity,  IV,  141. 

Doctrine,  The  Monroe,  I,  36,  38-39,  271, 

276,  278,  280,  333;  II,  58,  59-60,  333. 
Doctrine  of  balance  of  power,  I,  274, 

278;    II,  59. 
Doctrine  of  equality,  I,  30^310;    II, 

224;  III,  262-263,  274. 
Doctrine  of  life  necessity,  I,  339-344. 
Doctrine  of  "  manifest  destiny,"  I,  341. 
Doctrine  of  popularity,  IV,  314. 
Doctrine    of    rotation    in    oflBce,    IV, 

326-327,  352. 
Doctrines,   I,   36-39,   275;    II,   58-59; 

the  cost  of,  I,  279;    Revolutionary, 

III,  328;  socialistic.  III,  34,  41,  42, 
44-45. 

Dogma,  I,  132,  133,  134,  221;   II,  118; 

IV,  11-12,  15,  19,  30,  298;  that  "  all 
men  are  equal,"  II,  88,  102,  362-363; 
III,  302-303. 

Dogmas,  I,  161-163,  164;  II,  250, 
271,  291-293,  341-344;  eighteenth 
century,  II,  339;  IV,  11;  of  de- 
mocracy, III,  305-306;  political.  III, 
193-194,  258;  religious,  I,  129-130; 
social,  III,  193-194. 


INDEX 


529 


Dogmatic  method,  the.  III,  401. 
Dogmatism,  III,  37,  245-246;  political, 

II,  23;    III,  252-253;    in    sociology, 

III,  418-419;    social.  III,  33-S4. 
Dogmatizing,  II,  259-260. 

Dollars,  IV,  37-38,  50,  142,  143, 
157-158. 

Domestication  of  animals,  II,  244. 

Double  standard,  IV,  IBS. 

Dower,  I,  58. 

Dowry,  I,  68,  70,  86,  93. 

Drunkard,  I,  252;   IV,  47»-480. 

Dry  Dock  Bank,  IV,  380. 

DUAL  ORGANIZATION  OF  MAN- 
KIND, THE  PROPOSED,  I,  271- 
281. 

Dual  world-system,  the,  I,  276,  277, 
278;  II,  60-62. 

Duane,  W.  J.,  IV,  298,  305,  359. 

Duel,  the,  I,  19. 

Dutch,  the,  IV,  278;  in  New  York,  III, 
320. 

Duties,  I,  257,  258,  259;  III,  193-194 
and  rights,  I,  257-258;  III,  193, 
197-198,  224;  and  rights,  equilib 
rium  of,  II,  126-127,  128-129,  165 
and  rights  of  parents  and  children, 
II,  95-102;  and  rights,  poUtical,  III, 
224;  andservitude,  11, 126;  religious, 

I,  136. 

Duty,  I,  150;  IV,  365;  war  for,  HI, 
362. 

Earth  hunger,  II,  31-64;  and  the 
masses,  II,  39;  economic,  II,  46-47; 
economic    and    political    contrasted, 

II,  63;  political,  II,  64;  political, 
definition  of,  II,  46;  political,  of 
the  United  States,  II,  50-51,  53. 

EARTH  HUNGER  OR  THE  PHI- 
LOSOPHY OF  LAND  GRABBING, 
II,  31-64. 

Economic  and  family  systems,  II,  34-35. 

Economic  demand.  III,  114. 

Economic  development,  II,  322-323. 

Economic  doctrine,  IV,  213. 

Economic  earth  hunger,  II,  46-47; 
contrasted  with  political,  II,  63. 

Economic  facts,  II,  162. 

Economic  forces,  I,  205;    II,  314-315; 


III,  28-30;    IV.  215-217;    not  self- 
correcting,  III,  28-29. 
Economic  jurisdiction,  II,  52. 
Economic  laws,  III,  98;    IV,  186-189, 

195,  209,  213,  217. 
Economic  mysticism,  IV,  119. 
Economic  optimism,  II,  318-319,  324, 

332. 
Economic  power,  II,  318. 
Economics,    IV,     186-189,     196;     and 

industry,  II,  321. 
ECONOMICS    AND    POLITICS,    II, 

318-333. 
Economist,  IV,  60,  G4,  65,  105,  110. 
Economist,  duty  of  the,  III,  399. 
Economists,  IV,  213,  224-225,  249,  250; 

historical,     IV,     100;      sentimental, 

III,  48. 
Economy,  III,  86;  political,  I,  180-183; 

III,  395,  398-400,  418. 
Edmunds,  Senator,  III,  180. 
Education,  II,  72,   144,  177-178,  255, 

256,    265,    348;     III,    42,    397-398; 

IV,  71,  409-419,  423-438;  and  mar- 
riage, II,  94-95;  change  in  the 
character  of,  I,  360,  362,  371-373; 
classical,  I,  358-360,  362-370, 
372-373;  family,  II,  255,  256,  265; 
III,  18;  mandarinism  in,  I,  356; 
primary,  I,  355-356;  relation  of 
primary  to  secondary,  I,  355-356. 

EDUCATION,    INTEGRITY    IN,    IV, 

409-419. 
"  Educators,"  IV,  410-411. 
Egypt,   II,   55;    slavery   in.   III,    146; 

status  of  women  in,  I,  81-85. 
Egyptian  civilization.  III,  146-147. 
Eighteenth  century,   IV,   11;    dogmas, 

II,  339;    notion  of  liberty,  II,   131 

notion     of      rights,      II,      222-223 

philosophy.    III,   87;    wars,    I,  320 

II.  60. 
Election,  Congressional.  III.  272-273. 
Election,    presidential.     Ill,    253-254, 

272-273,  335;  of  1824,  IV,  347-348. 
Elections.  I,  235-236;  III,  226.  227-229, 

230-238;     the   theory   of.    Ill,  230- 

234. 
Electives  system,  the,  I.  361-362. 
Elector  of  Saxony,  IV,  265-267. 


530 


INDEX 


Electoral  college.  III,  253,  307,  335;  IV, 
348,  357. 

Electricity,  II,  318. 

Eleemosynary  institutions.  III,  56. 

Element  of  risk,  the,  H,  184-185;  IV, 
268. 

Element,  the  aleatory,  I,  116,  119-120. 

"  Elevating  "  inferior  races.  III,  148. 

Elite,  the,  II,  341,  362. 

Elliott,  IV,  366. 

Ellsworth,  IV,  360. 

EMANCIPATES,  WHAT,  III,  137-142. 

Emancipation,  II,  187;  III,  138-139; 
IV,  18;  of  the  serfs,  II,  117-118, 
175-176. 

Embryonic  society.  III,  290. 

Emigration,  I,  175;  III,  22,  23;  IV,  12, 
16,  52,  59. 

Employees,  III,  196;  class  of,  lacking, 
III,  293-294,  295;  organization  of, 
III,  100. 

Employer,  III,  196;  IV,  44,  45,  46,  52, 
73,  75,  78,  249-251,  486;  class  lack- 
ing, III,  293-291,  295;  and  employee, 
III,  93,  97,  99,  101-102;  IV.  481-482. 

Employment,  IV,  35,  241-242. 

Encyclopaedia  of  Political  Science,  III, 
395,  402. 

Endogamy,  I,  75,  76,  77. 

Energy,  conservation  of,  IV,  23;  in- 
dividual, II,  133-135,  308;    political, 

II,  295;   vital.  III,  96-97. 
England,  I,  153,  293,  303,  313,  316,  317; 

U,  53,  313,  321;  IV,  21,  47,  53,  55, 
57,  60,  64,  65,  75,  76,  78,  97,  105, 
117,  153,  170,  224,  234,  281,  346, 
350,  371,  378,  379,  482,  489;  and  the 
American  colonies.  III,  323-324, 
326-328;  as  a  colonizer,  II,  47,  49,  52; 
jobbery  in,  I,  262;  the  colonial 
system  of,  I,  275,  313,  315,  316,  317; 

III,  323;  the  civilizing  mission  of, 
I,  303. 

English  Constitution,  the,  ITT,  251-252, 

284;  IV,  294. 
English  traditions.  III,  297. 
Enjoyment,  impatience  for.  III,  36. 
Entail,  III,  126. 
Enterprise,    large    scale.    III,    81-82, 

85-86. 


Enterprises,   joint-stock,   III,   82-83. 
Envirormient,  artificial,  II,  251;  societal, 

I,  129,  130,  143;  HI,  309-310. 
Equal  Rights  Party,  IV,  313-314,  365. 
EQUALITY,  II,  87-89. 

Equality,  II,  123;  III,  40,  44^5, 
56-59,  157-158,  193,  224,  226-227, 
295,  296-298,  302-304;  IV,  290, 
291-292,  300,  321,  322,  323,  365-366, 
481;  and  progress,  HI,  299;  before 
the  .law,  II,  224;  III,  44^5;  IV, 
473-474;  political.  III,  249-250, 
303-304;  social.  III,  304;  the 
doctrine  of,  I,  309-310;  II,  88,  102, 
224,  362-363;  III,  262-263,  274, 
302-303;  the  thirst  for,  II,  87,  88-89, 
331-332. 

Equilibrium  of  rights  and  duties,  II, 
126-127,  128-129,  165. 

Era  of  good  feeling,  IV,  302,  339. 

Erie  Canal,  IV,  306,  345. 

Eskimo,  the,  I,  10,  11-12,  44. 

Esprit  de  corps,  HI,  280. 

Ethical  energy.  III,  202-204. 

Ethical  person,  the  state  as  an,  I,  221; 

II,  309. 

"  ETHICAL  PERSON,"  THE  STATE 
AS  AN,  III,  201-204. 

Ethical  principles.  III,  193. 

Ethical  questions,  II,  322-323. 

Ethics,  I,  195-196;  II,  68,  70,  74;  III, 
95,  98. 

Ethnocentrism,  I,  12,  24-25. 

Ethnography,  III,  408,  411. 

Europe,  IV,  73,  78;  movement  of 
population  from,  I,  272-274;    II,  45. 

European  history  contrasted  with 
American,  II,  292-293,  307. 

Everett,  Edward,  IV,  360. 

Evolution,  IV,  404-405;  societal,  IQ, 
82. 

Ewing,  Secretary,  IV,  352. 

Exact  sciences,  the.  III,  410. 

Exchange,  II,  285-286. 

Excise  taxes,  III,  327;   IV,  21,  60. 

Executive,  the,  III,  282-286;  democ- 
racy's fear  of.  III,  261-262;  initiat- 
ing legislation,  III,  284-285. 

Executive  ability.  III,  173;  IV,  78. 

Executive  officers.  III,  261-262. 


INDEX 


531 


Existence,  the  right  to  an,  II,  225-227; 
the  struggle  for,  I,  8,  9,  164,  173, 
176-177;  II.  226,  347;  III,  17-18,  19, 
20,  22,  26,  30-31,  57,  58,  120-121, 
122-123;  IV,  79,  257;  worthy  of  a 
human  being,  II,  212-216. 

Expansion,  I,  337-339;  and  plutoc- 
racy, I,  325-326;  business,  I,  338; 
municipal,  I,  338-339;  territorial, 
I,  337,  339. 

Expansionism,  I,  297. 

Ex-perience,  IV.  332. 

Exports,  IV,  89,  97;  bounties  on,  IV, 
12;   taxes  on,  IV,  12,  15-16. 

Extension,  territorial,  I,  285-286,  337, 
339;  II,  57;  the  burdens  of,  I, 
292-293. 

EXTENSION,  THE  FALLACY  OF 
TERRITORIAL,  I,  285-293. 


Faction  struggles,  IV,  302-303. 
Factory,  IV,  38;    acts  for  women  and 

chQdren,  IV,  481;  labor,  II,  192-193. 
Facts,  III,  87,  408,  410-^11;  economic, 

II,  162. 
FACTS,  THE  CHALLENGE  OF,  III, 

17-52. 
Fallacies,  III,  27,  28;  silver,  IV,  141-145. 
FALLACIES,     SOCIOLOGICAL,     II, 

357-364. 
Family,  the,  11,  93;    III,  18,  203-204; 

and    economic    systems,    II,    34-35; 

and    property,    II,    254,    258;     and 

social  change,  I,  61;    and  the  school, 

I,  61;   an  institution,  I,  43;  Christian, 

I,  52;  education,  II,  255,  256,  265; 
m,  18;  father-,  I,  47-52,  69,  80,  82, 
88;  modern,  I,  6(M)1;  monogamic, 
n,  254-258,  264-266;  III,  24; 
mother-,  I,  47-50,  69,  81-82,  88; 
primitive,  I,  43^4,  46^7;  II, 
260-261,  262,  263-264;  Roman,  I, 
56-60;  sentiment,  II,  256-257, 
266-268;  III,  19-20;  state  regula- 
tion of,  II,  93-94,  103-104. 

FAMILY,    THE,    AND    PROPERTY, 

II,  259-269. 

FAMILY,       THE,       AND       SOCIAL 
CHANGE,  I,  43-€l. 


FAMILY  MONOPOLY,  THE,  II, 
254-258. 

Family  of  nations,  the,  II,  62-63. 

Farm,  farming,  IV,  41,  47,  73. 

Farmer,  IV,  151,  161-162,  168,  275,  276; 
mortgagors,  IV,  168-169. 

Father-family,  the,  I,  47-52,  69,  80, 
82,  88;    position  of  woman  in,  I,  51. 

Favoritism,  IV,  485. 

Fear,  I,  14,  130. 

Federal  legislation,  III,  316;  on  rail- 
roads, III,  177-182. 

FEDERAL  LEGISLATION  ON  RAIL- 
ROADS, III,  177-182. 

Federal  party,  the.  III,  328-329. 

Federal  poUtical  system,  IV,  331. 

Federalists,  the.  III,  307,  329,  332,  342; 
IV,  289,  291,  292,  293,  296-297,  302, 
305,  315.  322,  343. 

Feudal  period,  the,  II,  190-191. 

Feudal  system,  the,  II,  312-313. 

Feudalism,  I,  143,  215;   III,  299-300. 

Filipinos,  the,  I,  301,  304-305,  328. 

Filmer,  Sir  Robert,  II,  161,  165. 

Financial  institutions,  IV,  166-167. 

Financial  organization,  IV,  220. 

Fire,  IV,  47,  56;  -engine,  IV,  57. 

Fittest,  survival  of  the.  III,  25,  423; 
IV,  225. 

Florida,  the  acquisition  of,  I,  341. 

Fluctuations,  IV,  192-193,  201,  203, 
204,  221. 

Folkways,  I,  149,  150,  151. 

Foraker,  Senator,  I,  301. 

Force  and  rights,  II,  82. 

Forces,  I,  209-210;  IV,  216;  economic, 
I,  205;  II,  314-315;  III,  28-30; 
IV,  215-217;  moral.  III,  29-30, 
201-202,  352-353;  natural,  I,  199, 
209-210;  of  disruption.  III,  315-317; 
social,  I,  226,  242;  II,  312;  III,  76, 
137, 140, 142;  IV,  216,  250-251. 

Foreign  affairs,  I,  276-277;  II,  60-61; 
policy,   IV,    66-67;     trade,    IV,    119. 

Foreigners,  III,  303;  IV,  21,  22,  65, 
102,  103,  108-109,  132. 

Forgotten  man,  the,  I,  247-253, 
257-268;  IV,  466,  469,  471,  476, 
479,  480,  482-183,  485,  486,  487, 
491-494;    burdens   laid   on,   I,    248, 


532 


INDEX 


249,  250,  251,  252,  253,  259-260,  264, 
267-268;  character  of  the,  I,  249, 
264,266-267;  IV,  476,  491-492. 

FORGOTTEN  MAN,  THE,  IV,465-495. 

(FORGOTTEN  MAN)  ON  THE  CASE 
OF  A  CERTAIN  MAN  WHO  IS 
NEVER  THOUGHT  OF,  I,  247-253. 

FORGOTTEN  MAN,  THE  CASE  OF 
THE,     FURTHER     CONSIDERED, 

I,  257-268. 

Forgotten    woman,    the,    I,    264-266; 

IV,  492-i93. 
Fortune,  II,  345-346;    III,  56-57,  68; 

-hunters,  I,  273-274. 
France,  I,  235,  303,  322-323;    II,  313; 

III,  226;  IV,  48,  53,  58,  59,  97,  192, 
197,  198,  224,  233-234,  365,  371;  as 
a  colonizer,  II,  52;  civilizing  mis- 
sion of,  I,  303;  witchcraft  in,  I, 
117-118. 

Franchises,  II,  319-320,  321;  III,  88. 

Franco-Prussian  War,  IV,  224. 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  I,  292,  313;  II, 
56. 

FREE,  WHO  IS?  IS  IT  THE  CIVI- 
LIZED MAN?     II,  140-145. 

FREE,  WHO  IS?  IS  IT  THE  MIL- 
LIONAIRE? II,  145-150. 

FREE,  WHO  IS?  IS  IT  THE  SAVAGE? 

II,  136-140. 

FREE,  WHO  IS?  IS  IT  THE  TRAMP? 
II,  150-155. 

FREE-COINAGE  SCHEME  IS  IM- 
PRACTICABLE AT  EVERY  POINT, 

IV,  157-162. 

Free  contract,  I,  226,  234;  IV,  474. 

Free  soil,  IV,  17-18,  110. 

Free  SoU  Party,  IV,  321. 

Free  trade,  I,  289-290,  291,  318,  319, 
321,  322;  II,  109-110,  111;  III, 
378;  IV,  16,  17-18,  19,  20,  26,  47, 
48-49,  83,  90,  94,  95,  109-110,  123- 
127,  282,  312,  318;  definition  of, 
IV,   17,    20;    with   Canada,  II,    51. 

FREE  TRADE,  WHAT  IS?  IV,  123-127. 

Free  trader,  the,  IV,  126-127. 

Freedom,  II,  209,  220;  III,  157-158; 
IV,  281-282;  of  movement,  limita- 
tions on  the,  II,  239;  of  the  press, 
n,  273,  274. 


Free-will,  II,  200-201,  203. 
Freight  rates,  II,  327,  330-331. 
French,   the,  I,   153;    in  Canada,   III, 
320-321;     wars    with    the    colonists, 

III,  250,  251. 

French  Revolution,  the.  III,  58,  60,  73; 

IV,  291. 
Freneau,  IV,  298. 

Friends  of  humanity,  the,  I,  248,  250; 

III,  416,  417. 

Frontier,  the.  III,  331;  states,  111,332. 
Fructifying  causation,  IV,  219. 
Fuegians,  the,  II,  357-358. 
Fugitive  Slave  Law,  the,  IV,  320. 
Fur  industry,  the,  II,  242. 
Future,     the,    III,     275-277;     of     the 
United  States,  I,  350-351. 

Gains  and  penalties,  II,   180-181. 
Gal  ton,  Francis,  I,  135;    II,  24, 
Gambling,  IV,  480;   -houses,  IV,  100. 
Game,  the  supply  of,  II,  241-242. 
Garment  workers.  III,  55,  60. 
Gas  supply  a  natural  monopoly,  II,  246. 
Generalizations,  II,  271;   III,  137-138; 

IV,  467. 

George,  Henry,  III,  165,  208. 

German  school  of  sociology.  III,  418. 

Germany,  I,  152-153,  156,  201,  217, 
232-233,  293,  304;  II,  49,  302-303, 
313;  III,  48;  IV,  48,  57,  59,  60-61, 
78,  97,  224,  233;  as  a  colonizer,  II, 
51-52;  bureaucracy  in,  II,  302;  IV, 
481;  militarism  in,  I,  323;  the  civi- 
lizing mission  of,  I,  304;  the  in- 
dustry and  discipline  of,  I,  15-16; 
witchcraft  in,   I,  106,  107,  112,  116. 

Ghost-sanction,  I,  11. 

Gibson,  Randall,  III,  378. 

Giddings,  Professor,  I,  153;  II,  27. 

Girard,  Stephen,  III,  83. 

Girard  Bank,  IV,  392. 

Glory,  IV,  426,  427;  "  the  pest  of,"  I, 
292,  313;  II,  50;  war  for,  I,  14;  HI, 
362. 

God,  the  peace  of,  I,  21;  the  Truce  of, 
I,  21. 

Gold,  IV,  85, 141, 144-145, 152, 179-180, 
183-186,  189,  192,  198,  201-202, 
203,  206-209,  234,  235;  scramble  for. 


INDEX 


533 


IV,  177;  standard,  IV,  150,  153,  157, 
179. 

GOLD,  PROSPERITY  STRANGLED 
BY,  IV,  Ul-145. 

GOLD  AND  SILVER,  A  CONCUR- 
RENT CIRCULATION  OF,  IV, 
183-210. 

"  Golden  age,"  the,  II,  219. 

Good-for-notliing,  the,  IV,  476-477,  493. 

"Goods,"  II,  178. 

Gouge,  IV,  392. 

Governing  states,  the  character  of,  I, 
346. 

Government,  III,  223-240,  243-286; 
IV,  126-127,  230-231,  325-326;  by 
interests.  III,  228;  constitutional, 
I,  163;  development  of.  III,  392-393; 
good,  IV,  31;  JefFersonian  ideas  of, 
IV,  344;  party.  III,  393-394;  re- 
publican form  of,  III,  223-240; 
Responsible,     III,      280-281;      self-, 

I,  300,  301,  302-303,  312,  349-350; 
III,  226-227,  229-230,  238,  285; 
"  stable,"  I,  350;  the  "  best," 
system  of.  III,  244-245. 

GOVERNMENT,  DEMOCRACY  AND 
RESPONSIBLE,  III,  243-286. 

GOVERNMENT,  REPUBLICAN,  III 
223-240. 

Graft,  IV,  134-135,  136. 

Grant,  General,  IV,  35. 

Great  fortunes,  I,  199,  201-203. 

"  Great  principles,"  1, 161-163,326-329; 

II,  58;  III,  245-246;  Falsely  So 
Called,  III,  245-246. 

Greece,  II,  37;  slavery  in.  III,  303; 
status  of  women  in,  I,  85-102. 

Greed,  UI,  423-424. 

Greek  democracy.  III,  303. 

Greeks,  the,  I,  25. 

Greeley,  Horace,  IV,  86. 

Green-backers,  the,  I,  169. 

Greenbacks,  greenbackism,  IV,  175. 

Gregory  the  Great,  II,  116. 

Grotius,  Hugo,  I,  162. 

Group  life  and  the  struggle  for  exist- 
ence, I,  8. 

Group  sentiment  and  war,  I,  9. 

Groups  and  the  competition  of  life,  I, 
10. 


Guerard,  II,  174. 
Guest  rights,  I,  10-11,  17-18. 
Guild,  the,  I,  215-216;   IV,  258,  262. 
Gunpowder,  IV,  54;    the  invention  of, 

I,  30;   III,  153. 

Half -culture,  II,  10-11. 

Hamilton.  Alexander,  HI,  223,  226,  307. 

328;  IV,  80,  295,  296. 
Hammer  of  Witches,  the,  I,   100-109, 

112. 
Hammurabi,   status  of  women  in   the 

laws  of,  I,  67-69,  71. 
Hampden,  IV,  366. 
Hancock,  W.  S.,  IV,  9. 
Happiness,    HI,    146,    147;     IV.    468; 

individual,    IV,    239;     right    to    the 

pursuit  of,  II,  234. 
Hard  times,  IV,  9-10, 109,  111,  149-151, 

152,  168,  230. 
HARD  TIMES,  CAUSE  AND  CURE 

OF,  IV,  149-153. 
Hardships  of  life,  III,  74-75. 
Harrison,  W.  H.,  IV,  316. 
Hat-man,  the,  IV,  44-45. 
Hawaii,   II,   53;    the  admission  of,   I, 

288-289. 
Hayes,  Governor,  HI,  368-369,  371-372, 

375-376,  379. 
Hayti,  I,  312. 
Heretics,  I,  308-309. 
Hermann,  Briggs  &  Co.,  IV,  378. 
Herodotus,  I,  82. 
Heroism,  IV,  427. 
Hierocracy,  definition  of,  U,  290. 
"  High  politics,"  II,  56. 
Hindus,  the,  I,  66-67. 
History,  I,  371;  II,  20,  26;    III,  401, 

411;    IV,  216,    338,  432;    American 

and  Ein-opean  contrasted.  III,  292- 

293,    307;     American    colonial,    III, 

248-253,    290-323;     the    appeal    to, 

II,  118,  120;   the  study  of.  III,  137, 
141;    the  task  of,  IV,  331. 

Hobbes,  Thomas,  I,  115. 
Hod-carriers,  II,  194-195,  360. 
Homer,  status  of  women  in,  I,  85-87. 
Homogeneous  institutions,  III,  355-356. 
Homogeneous  population.  III,  354-355. 
Honduras,  IV,  53. 


534 


INDEX 


Honesty,  IV,  413. 

Honor,  IV,  437. 

Hottentots,  the,  II,  214;   III,  303. 

Hottinguer,  IV,  387,  388. 

House  of  Have,  the,  HI,  165. 

House    of    Representatives,    the,    U, 

327-328;   IV,  304,  348,  360. 
House  of  Want,  the.  III,  165. 
House-peace,  the,  I,  16-17,  21. 
Hugo,  Victor,  IV,  483. 
Human  error,  II,  230. 
Human  nature,  II,  230-231;    the  vices 

of.  III,  233-234;    the  weaknesses  of, 

HI,  69. 
Humanitarian  propositions,  II,  214-215. 
Humanitarianism,  I,  29,  139,  146,  163; 

IV,  475,  476. 
Humboldt,  Alexander  von.  III,  40. 
Hunger,  I,  14,  130. 
Huxley,  Thomas  Henry,  III,  29. 
Hysteria,  I,  108,  119-120. 

Ideals,   II,   73-74,   187-188,   202,    210, 

322;    III,  215,  245;    IV,    11-12,    13, 

49;    faith  in,  II,  25-26;    not  causes, 

HI,  127. 
"  Ideas,  the  power  of,"  II,  74. 
Ignorance,  II,  229. 
Illinois,    II,    44;     IV,   55;    Bureau   of 

Labor  Statistics,  III,  188-189. 
Immigrants,  III,  355. 
Immigration,   I,   279-280;    II,   61,  62; 

III,  116;   IV,  50,  78,  88,  89,  321,  345. 
Imperialism,  I,  297,  312-313,  314,  348, 

350;     a    philosophy,    I,    346;     and 

democracy,    I,   322,    325,    326;    and 

plutocracy,  I,  325-326;    and  Spain, 

I,   297;    and   the   United   States,   I, 

291,  345-346. 
Imperium,  II,  307. 
Imports,  IV,  12,  16,  21;    taxes  on,  IV, 

20,  28-29. 
Improvement  by  change,  the  false  hope 

of,  III,  245. 
Improvements,   IV,   70,   96,   133,   214, 

222,  226-227,  345;    cost  of,  IV,  221; 

internal,  IV,  306,  346,  390,  391,  395, 

488. 
Increment,  the  unearned,  II,  244;  III, 

312. 


India,  IV,  24;    status  of  women  in,  I, 

72-75. 
Individual,    the,    HI,     111-112;     and 

civil   liberty,    II,    168-169;    produc- 
tive power  of.  III,  145. 
Individual  eflfort,  II,  216,  230. 
Individual  energy,  II,  133-135,  308. 
Individual  happiness,  IV,  239. 
Individual  interest,  conflict  of,  with  the 

social  interest,  I,  218. 
Individual    liberty,    I,    219-220,    223; 

II,  198,  199,  202;   relation  of,  to  civil 

liberty,  II,  169-170. 
Individual  questions,  III,  95-96. 
Individualism,    I,    218-219,    225,    226; 

II,  127-128,  257,  308-309;    HI,  17. 
Individualization,  I,  178-179. 
Inductive  method,  the,  HI,  401. 
Industrial  atmosphere,  II,  359. 
Industrial  changes,  I,  239-241. 
Industrial  classes,  II,  191;   HI,  36. 
Industrial  disease,  IV,  96,  21^-220. 
Industrial  honor,  II,  33-34. 
Industrial  liberty,  I,  233,  234,  236;   II, 

331-332. 
Industrial    organization,    I,    155;      II, 

319-321;    HI,  82-83;    advancing,  I. 

196-199;    of  the  American  colonies, 

HI,  294. 
INDUSTRIAL      PEACE,      DO      WE 

WANT?     I,  229-243. 
Industrial  power.  III,  148,  154. 
Industrial     problems,     WTiters     on,     I, 

236-238. 
Industrial     revolution,     the,     I,     141; 

II,  42. 

Industrial    society,    HI,    66,    321-322; 

contrasted   with   the   militant   type, 

1,28. 
Industrial  struggle,  II,  286-287. 
Industrial  system,  the.  III,  55-56,  59, 

61,  62;    IV,  214-215,  217-219,  222, 

223,  228,  250,  259-260. 
Industrial  victories,  HI,  130-132. 
Industrial    virtues,    the,    II,    345-346; 

III,  51-52,  201-202,  297. 
Industrial  war,   I,   225,  232,   234-235, 

237,  239,  241,  243;   III,  98-102;   IV, 
246,  261;   and  Uberty,  I,  234,  236. 
INDUSTRIAL  WAR,  III,  93-102. 


INDEX 


535 


Industrialism,  I,  13,  208;  conflict  of, 
with  militarism,  I,  323-3'24,  348; 
II,  190-191;  III,  300-301;  defini- 
tion of,  I,  348. 

Industry,  II,  320-333;  IV,  21,  35^0, 
60,  64,  90-92,  133-134,  151,  214-215, 
218,  259-261;  and  capital.  III,  41-42; 
and  economics,  II,  321;  and  legis- 
lation, III,  340;  and  militancy,  I, 
30;  and  politics,  II,  321-333;  and 
the  state,  I,  215;  II,  300,  310;  and 
talent,  II,  323;  captains  of,  I,  199- 
200,  201;  II,  134,  297-298,  329-330, 
331-332;  III,  83,  84;  IV,  99,  218; 
definition  of,  IV,  36;  "  democracy  " 
of,  II,  323;  dependence  of,  on  politi- 
cal action,  II,  320-321;  diversi- 
fication of,  IV,  85,  91;  fur,  II,  242; 
home,  IV,  346;  infant,  IV,  80,  82; 
modern,  II,  294;  III,  85-86;  pro- 
tected, I,  263-264,  266;  II,  320; 
regulation  of,  I,  216-217;  women  in, 
IV,  243. 

Inequalities  of  fortune.  III,  88-90. 

Inequality,  II,  88,  363;  III,  24-25, 
26-27,  31,  38-40,  68-69,  297-298, 
302-303. 

Infanticide,  I,  151;  III,  114. 

Inferiority,  servitude  with,  II,  123. 

Inflation,  IV,  175. 

Ingham,  Samuel  D.,  IV,  353. 

In-group,  the,  I,  ^13;  U.  79-80,  82; 
as  peace-group,  I,  17;  rights  in,  I, 
11,  17;   II,  79-80. 

Injustice,  II,  152-153;  social,  I,  258, 
261;  II,  152-153. 

Inquisition,  the,  II,  21;  and  witchcraft 
I,  105-109. 

Inspectors,  government,  IV,  482. 

Institutes  of  Justinian,  the,  II,  115. 

Institution,  conception  of  an,  I,  43. 

Institutions,  I,  209;  eleemosynary.  III, 
56;  homogeneous,  III,  355-356; 
financial,  IV,  166-167;  pohtical,  II, 
298-299,  332-333;  III,  243-244, 
247-248,  249,  253;  popular.  III, 
276-277. 

Insurance,  IV,  79. 

INTEGRITY  IN  EDUCATION,  IV, 
409H.19. 


Intellectual  work,  II,  192-193. 

Intelligence  in  labor,  II,  193-196. 

Interest,  I,  218;  contingent.  III,  196- 
197;  individual,  I,  218;  military,  I, 
30;  party,  II,  327-328;  public,  I, 
234-235;  III,  258-259,  260-261;  IV, 
232,  .324-325;  rate  of,  II,  349-351; 
IV,  52,  177-178;  social,  1, 218;  specific, 
III,  196-197;  the  devil  of,  II, 
353. 

Interests,  I,  130,  154;  II,  309,  314, 
322,  323,  324,  326,  328-329,  342, 
343-344;  III,  178,  180,  188,  196-197, 
216,  228,  258;    IV,   137;   conflict  of, 

II,  323-325,  330-331;  government  by, 

III,  228;  private,  UI,  258-259,  261; 
protected,  IV,  136;  struggle  of,  I, 
222,  224;  vested,  IV,  117-118,  228. 

Interference,  II,  126;   political,  II,  332; 

state,  I,  213-226;    11,    96,    98,    100, 

270-279,  285-289,  328. 
INTERFERENCE,  STATE,  I,  213-226. 
International  law,  I,  20,  280-281;    II, 

62-63;   origin  of,  I,  13. 
Interstate  Commerce  Commission,  the, 

II,  277-278,  325-326;    III,  189-190, 

218-219. 
Interstate    Commerce    Law,    the,    II, 

275-279,    288,    300;     III,    189-190, 

216-219,  316. 
Inventions,   I,   203-209,   230,   241;    II, 

35,    163,    228-229;     III,    141,    153, 

154;     IV,    133,    214,   306,   345,   402; 

mechanical.  III,  247;  military,  I,  30. 
Iowa,  n,  44,  46;   IV,  73. 
Ireland  II,  275;  III,  28-29;  IV,  24,  50, 

282. 
Iron,  IV,  33,  40-42,  43.  55,  77,  80,  90, 

91-92,    132,    274,    275;    Association, 

IV,  72. 

Iroquois,  the,  I,  47-50;    League  of,  I, 

23-24. 
Irredeemable  paper,  IV,  196. 
Irresponsibility,  General,  III,  271-272. 
Irresjjonsible  power,  III,  225,  264. 
Isolation,  I,  326. 
Israelites,  the,  I,  133-134;  war  among, 

L9. 
ISSUE,     THE     NEW     SOCIAL,    III, 

207-212. 


536 


INDEX 


ISSUE,     THE     PREDOMINANT,     I, 

337-352. 
Italian  republics,  the,  II,  314. 
Italy,  I,  293;   as  a  colonizer,  II,  51-62; 

witchcraft  in,  I,  112, 117-118. 

Jackson,  Andrew,  III,  269;  IV,  303, 
304,  305,  308-309,  312,  313,  314, 
338,  340,  341-343,  347-348,  349, 
350,  351,  352,  353,  354-355, 
356-359,  360-361,  362,  363,  365, 
372,  373. 

JACKSON,  ANDREW,  THE  AD- 
MINISTRATION OF,  IV,  337-367. 

Jacksonian  democracy,  IV,  363. 

Jacobinism,  III,  305-306,  325,  334; 
IV,  292. 

Jacquerie,  the,  IV,  131. 

Jamestown    settlement,    the,    II,    238; 

III,  291-292. 

Jandon,  IV,  382,  386,  387,  388. 

Japan,  II,  45,  55;  IV,  54,  56,  92-93, 159, 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  III,  158,  302-303, 
328,  335,  342;  IV,  55,  296,  298,  299, 
300,  301,  343,  351,  358,  363. 

Jeffersonian   democracy,    II,    306-307; 

IV,  344. 

Jeffersonians,   the.   III,   328-329,   341- 

342;  IV,  322. 
Jevons,  IV,  196. 
Jews,    the,    I,    25;     status    of   women 

among,  I,  51-52,  76-81. 
Jobbery,    I,    261-264;     IV,     169-170, 

488-491;    de6nition  of,   I,   261-262; 

in  England,  I,  262;    in  the  United 

States,  I,   262-263;    IV,  488-491. 
Joint-stock  enterprises,  III,  82-83. 
Joseph  &  Co.,  IV,  378. 
Journal  des  Economistes,  IV,  58,  81. 
Judaism,  I,  131. 

Judea,  status  of  women  in,  I,  76-80. 
Judges,  IV,  364. 
Judgment,    Errors    of    Political,    III, 

243-244. 
Jural  state,  the  modern,  II,  127-128, 

160. 
Jurisdiction,    I,    286-290;     II,    54-56; 

economic   and   political,   contrasted, 

II,   52;     over   territory,   I,   286-288, 

289,  290;   II,  54-56;   the  burdens  of. 


I,   288-289;    II,  54-56;    the  forced 

extension  of,  I,  290;  II,  55. 
Justice,   II,   208-209;    III,  23-24,  98; 

abstract,  II,  219;  distributive,  II,  89. 
"  Justification  of  labor,"  II,  181-182. 
Justification  of  the  Revolutionary  War, 

III,  324. 
Justinian,  the  Institutes  of,  II,  115. 

Karoly,  II,  111,  114. 

Keller,  Albert  Galloway,  MEMORIAL 

ADDRESS  by.  III,  440-450. 
Kelley,  IV,  489. 
Kendall,  Amos,  IV,  359. 
Kin-group,  the,  I,  8. 
King  Caucus,  IV,  304,  339,  362. 
King  Majority,  IV,  367. 
King's  peace,  the,  I,  21-23;   as  law  of 

the  land,  I,  22-23. 
Kinship  and  regulation  of  war,  I,  19-20. 
Knights  of  Labor,  the,  II,  287. 
Knowledge,   II,   10,  73,  177-178;    III, 

265-266. 
Knox,  Henry,  IV,  295. 
Koran,  the  doctors  of  the.  III,  187. 

Labor,  I,  186;  II,  181-182,  344;  III, 
17,  20-21,  34-36,  171;  IV,  19,  21, 
25,  37-38,  46-47,  49,  52,  55,  70-75, 
96,  119,  123,  127,  227-228,  262; 
and  capital,  redistribution  of,  I, 
239-241;  and  dignity,  II,  189;  and 
property,  II,  243-244;  class,  bene- 
fits to  the,  II,  40-42,  43;  child,  II, 
100;  convict,  II,  102;  III,  188-189; 
definition  of,   II,   182;    demand  for, 

III,  115;    dignity  of,  II,   189,  297; 

IV,  242;  disputes,  III,  139;  divi- 
sion of,  II,  361;  factory,  II,  192-193; 
intelligence  in,  II,  193-196;  "  justi- 
fication "  of,  II,  181-182;  legisla- 
tion on  hours  of.  III,  35;  literature, 

I,  236,  237,  238;  manual,  II,  225; 
market.  III,  122;  IV,  71;  militant 
notions  about,  II,  189-191;  not 
brutalizing,  II,  192-193;  organiza- 
tions, III,  100,  139;  pauper,  IV,  42, 
43,  46-47,  58,  75,  106;  problem,  the, 

II,  312;  question,  I,  229-230,  231; 
II,     228-229;      III,     93-102,     122; 


INDEX 


587 


right  to  the  full  product  of,  II, 
224-226;  -saving  machinery,  IV, 
221,  226-227;  thought  to  be  de- 
grading, II,  189-190. 

LABOR,  LIBERTY  AND,  II,  181-187. 

(LABOR)  DOES  LABOR  BRUTAL- 
IZE?    II,  187-193. 

Laborers,  II,  40-42,  43;  III,  156-157, 
295;  non-union,  I,  251-252;  posi- 
tion of,  in  the  United  States,  I,  196; 
unskilled,  I,  159,  249,  251-252;  II, 
44;   III,  122. 

Laissez-faire,  I,  209-210;  U,  300;  IV, 
15,  109. 

Land, 1, 174-176,  178, 183;  11,  235-236; 
III,  22-23,  156-157;  IV,  48,  49, 
70,  72-75,  80,  86-87;  acquisition  of, 
III,   153-154;    beneficial  interest  in, 

I,  286-288,  289;  II,  54-55;  com- 
pany,   III,    313;     grabbing,    I,    322; 

II,  48;  IV,  165;  monopoly,  II, 
239-244;  new.  III,  171-172,  338; 
owners,  IV,  152;  private  property 
in,  I,  179-180;  II,  243,  258;  pur- 
chases, IV,  375;  ratio  of  popula- 
tion to,  I,  174-176, 188;  II,  31,  32-35, 
37-40,  42,  44;  III,  22-23,  40,  296; 
rent.  III,  172,  320;  supporting 
power  of,  lessened  by  errors,  11, 
35-37,  39-40;  tenure,  allodial.  III, 
312;  tenure,  colonial,  III,  312;  un- 
limited supplies  of.  III,  141,  293-295; 
unoccupied,  II,  31-32;  waste,  11, 
37-38. 

LAND  MONOPOLY,  II,  239-244. 

Landlords,  III,  156-157,  172,  295. 

Language,  I,  150;  science  of,  IV,  432. 

Languages,  modern,  I,  363-364. 

Lasalle,  II,  185. 

Latin  Union,  the,  IV,  185,  192,  207. 

Laveleye,  M.  de,  II,  171. 

Law,  I,  11,  17;  II,  165-166;  IV,  21,  72, 
349,  363,  364;  and  liberty,  II,  160, 
165-166,  167-168;  III,  26,  208-210; 
Anglo-American,  III,  215,  218;  canon, 
I,  59,  144;  equality  before  the,  II, 
224;  III,  44-45;  IV,  473-474;  im- 
potency  of  the.  III,  232-233,  234-236; 
international,  I,  13,  20,  280-281; 
n,    62-63;      Interstate    Commerce, 


II,  275-279,  288,  300;  III,  189-190, 
216-219,  316;  legal  tender,  IV,  190, 
191;  -Making,  Good  and  Bad,  III, 
252-253;  natural,  I,  172;  of  dimin- 
bhing  returns,  I,  175-176;  of  popu- 
lation, I,  175-176;  of  population, 
the  Malthusian,  I,  181-182;  of 
settlement,   II,    125;    oleomargarine, 

III,  187;  "pass  a  law,"  III,  129; 
poor.  III,  74;  positive,  II,  167; 
Ricardian,  of  rent,  I,  181-182. 

LAW,  LIBERTY  AND,  II,  161-166. 

Laws,  II,  80,  81,  83;  III,  292;  Antic 
ipatory,  III,  253-256;  convict- 
labor,  III,  188-189;  criminal,  IV,  13 
economic.  III,  98;  navigation,  IV, 
12;  need  of  few  and  good,  II,  330 
of  Hammurabi,  I,  67-69,  71;  of 
Manu,  I,  72-75;  of  Moses,  I,  67 
of  Solon,  I,  101;  of  the  social  order, 
n,  2at,  285;  of  war,  II,  112-113 
poor,  IV,  13;  social,  I,  191;  III,  37 
unwTitten,  III,  253-254. 

Leaders,  IV,  329-330. 

League  of  the  Iroquois,  I,  23-24. 

Legal  tender,  IV,  186,  189-191,  202, 
205,  206. 

Legislation,  II,  207-208,  298-299,  300, 
319-320,  321,  323-324,  327;  IV, 
19,  20,  27,  108,  188,  190,  194,  195, 
196,  199,  210,  262,  274,  481,  488; 
abuse  of,  IV,  479;  and  industry, 
III,  340;  and  vice,  I,  252;  by  com- 
mittees, III,  261,  281-282;  federal, 
III,  316;  hasty.  III,  177;  initiated 
by  the  executive.  III,  284-285;  on 
hours  of  labor.  III,  35;  on  railroads, 
III,  177-182;  paternal,  II,  275-279; 
prohibitory,  I,  253;  regarding  capi- 
tal, III,  27-28;  speculative.  III, 
215-219;  vicious,  II,  275,  277. 

LEGISLATION,  SPECULATIVE,  III, 
215-219. 

LEGISLATION  BY  CLAMOR,  IH, 
185-190. 

LEGISLATION  ON  RAILROADS, 
FEDERAL,  IH,  177-182. 

Legislators,  IV,  19-20,  49,  68,  490; 
the  duty  of.  III,  185. 

Legislature,  acts  of  the,  II,  69. 


538 


INDEX 


Leisure,  II,  189;  class,  the.  III.  281. 

Liberty,  I,  198,  299-300,  305;  II,  96-97, 
209,  210,  211,  235,  251,  308;  III, 
23-24,  25-26,  31,  44-46,  49-50,  248, 
249,  274;    IV,  14-15,   17,   123,  232, 

233.  235,  258,  363.  469,  470,  471-474, 
480,  494-495;  a  conquest,  II,  174- 
175;  a  product  of  civilization,  II,  132; 
anarchistic,  II,  119,  131-132,  161, 
198,  199,  200,  203;  III,  292,  317,  336; 
and  anarchy  contrasted,  II,  164-165; 
and  civilization,  II,  147,  149-150, 
175,  362;  and  discipline,  U,  170-171, 
200;  and  earthly  existence,  11,  156- 
157,  168-169;   and  industrial  war,  I, 

234,  236;  and  law,  II,  160,  165-166. 
167-168;  and  property,  II,  173-174; 
and  responsibility,  11,  158-160,  180; 
m,  96;  and  the  schoolboy,  II. 
140-141;  and  wealth,  11,  147-150, 
150-154;  civil,  II,  124,  128-129, 
182,  198-199,  202;  III,  26,  44-45, 
226,  238-240.  276,  336;  IV,  110. 
469.  470,  471-474;  civil,  a  matter 
of  law  and  institutions,  II,  160,  166; 
civil,  and  the  individual,  II,  168-169; 
civil,  definition  of,  n,  126-127;  IV, 
230-231,  472;  civil,  the  cost  of,  11, 
128;  III,  239;  constitutional,  IV, 
258;  eighteenth  century  notions  of, 
II,  131;  individual  or  personal,  I, 
219-220,  223;  II,  198,  199,  202; 
in  History  and  Institutions,  11, 
121-130;  industrial,  I,  233,  234, 
236;  II,  331-332;  maintenance  of, 
n,  164:  medieval  notions  of,  II,  141, 
157-158;  natural,  history  of  the 
dogma  of,  II,  112-121;  need  of 
re-analyzing,  II,  109-110;  of  civi- 
lized man,  II,  140-155;  of  primitive 
man,  II,  131,  132-133,  136-140, 
141,  361-362;  of  the  American 
colonists,  in,  317-322;  of  the  tramp. 
n.  154-155;  popular  notions  of, 
11,  110-112;  relation  of  individual 
to  civil,  II,  169-170;  soUdarity  of 
all  forms  of,  11,  110,  112;  subject 
to  moral  restraints,  II,  110,  112; 
the  dream  of,  II,  201-203;  the  price 
of,  n,    143-145,  146-147,    153-154; 


to  do  as  one  pleases,  11,  124,  136,  146, 

156,  161,  165,  166;   III,  26,  155-156; 

IV,  472-473;    the  right  to,  II,  234; 

under  law.   III,   26,   208-210;    with 

responsibility.  III,  96. 
LIBERTY     AND     DISCIPLINE,     II, 

166-171. 
LIBERTY  AND  LABOR,  K,  181-187. 
LIBERTY  AND  LAW,  II,  161-166. 
LIBERTY     AND     MACHINERY,     H, 

193-198. 
LIBERTY  AND    OPPpRTUNITY,  U, 

176-181. 
LIBERTY      AND      PROPERTY,      H, 

171-176. 
LIBERTY     AND    RESPONSIBILITY, 

II,  156-160. 
(LIBERTY)    IS    LIBERTY    A    LOST 

BLESSING?     II,  131-135. 
LIBERTY,  THE  DISAPPOINTMENT 

OF,  II,  198-203. 
LIBERTY?     WHAT     IS     CIVIL,     U, 

109-130. 
Life,    n,  234;    insurance,  11,  271-272; 

necessity,  I,  339-344;  the  "  banquet" 

of,   n,  210-211,  217-221,  233;    IH, 

112,  115;  the  competition  of,  I,  9-10, 

14,    176-177,   178,    184;    II.   79,  82; 

m.  25.  26,  30;  the  hardships  of,  lU, 

74-75;  the  right  to,  II,  234. 
LIFE,  THE  BANQUET  OF,  II,  217-221. 
Lincoln,  Abraham,  IV,  110.  323. 
Liquidation,  IV,  167,  220. 
Literarj'   productions    as    natural   mo 

nopohes,  II,  246-247,  272-274. 
Literature,  II,  246-247,  272-274;  labor, 

I,  236,   237,   238;     modern,   I,    153; 

II,  27;  the  corrupting  influence  of, 
II,  367-377;  the  regulation  of,  II, 
272-274. 

Living,  earning  a,  11,  213. 
Living,  the  standard  of,  11,  33-35. 
Livingstones,  the,  IV,  305,  307. 
Lobby,  the,  II,  298;   III,  340. 
Lock-outs,  II,  233;   III,  99. 
Locofoco  party,  the,  IV,  313-314,  315, 

358,  383. 
Louis  Napoleon,  III,  226. 
Louisiana.    II,    53-54;     IV.    64;     the 

acquisition  of,  I,  340;   IV,  297. 


INDEX 


539 


Love,  I,  14,  130;  modem  notions 
about,  m.  \U-4i5;    of  war,  I,  £9. 

Luck,  III,  56-57. 

Luiurj-,  n.  29S-494;  III,  130-131; 
the  thirst  for.  I,  190;  III,  36. 

LjTich-executions,  III,  383. 

"LYNCH-LAW,"  FOREWORD  TO, 
m.  383-384. 


Machinery.  H.  194-196;  m.  171. 
173;  IV.  12,  16.  70.  77;  labor- 
saving,  IV.  221.  226-^i27;  party, 
IIL  368,  369:  political.  III,  231-435, 
238,  267-26b,  :i\H. 

MACHINERY,  LIBERTY  AND,  IL 
193-198. 

:^IacMahon,  President,  HI,  226. 

Madison,  James,  HI,  307;  IV,  301, 
305,343. 

Magic  IV.  a.  106,  107. 

Maine,  IV,  55-56. 

Maine,  Sir  Henry.  HI.  119. 

Major  premises,  L  3,  161-163;  TIT, 
55,  57. 

Majority.  HI.  337;  King.  R*.  367; 
popular,  IIL  271,  277;  TV,  358; 
rule,  m,  264,  305;  TV,  290;  Sov- 
ereignty of  the.  III,  263-265. 

Malleus  Maleficarum,  the,  L  106-109, 
112. 

Malthusian  law  <A  population,  L 
181-182. 

Man,  I,  209-210;  brotherhood  of.  IV, 
403;  burdens  laid  on  the  forgotten, 
L  5^48.  249,  250.  251,  i5i,  253, 
259-260.  264,  267-268;  character 
<rf  the  forgotten,  L  249,  264.  266-267; 
nV  476.  491-492;  the  "Revolt" 
of.  Ill,  416:  the  "  ri^ts "  of,  H, 
i&\    IIL  33-34. 

MAN,  ON  THE  CASE  OF  A  CER- 
TAIN, WHO  IS  NEVER  THOUGHT 
OF,  I,  247-253. 

MAN,  THE  CASE  OF  THE  FOR- 
GOTTEN, FURTHER  CONSID- 
ERED, I,  2o7-26S. 

MAN.  THE  FORGOTTEN,  I\'.  465- 
495. 

Managers,  Officious,  HL  267-268. 


Mania,  the  witchcraft,  I,  105-126;  IL 
23. 

Manifest  destiny,  L  341,  542;    II,  54. 

Manitoba,  II,  46;   IV,  55. 

Mankind,  III,  207;  the  "degrada- 
tion" of.  III,  148-150;  the  new 
jKJwer  of.  III,  207,  211;  the  primi- 
tive state  of,  L  3,  14;  IL  219-220, 
230,  234-235,  237-238,  340,  357-358, 
360:    III.  149. 

MANKIND,  THE  PROPOSED  DUAL 
ORGANIZATION  OF,  L  271-281. 

Manners,  IV.  414-^15,  436. 

Manor  system,  the,  HI,  310-312. 

Manu,  status  of  women  in  the  laws  erf, 
I,  72-75. 

Manual  labor,  II,  225. 

Manufactures,  IV,  76,  83,  84,  86. 

Marty,  W.  L.,  IIL  269-270;  IW,  309, 
352. 

Mariiet,  IL  121;  IV.  250,  251,  252 
conjuncture  of  the,  I,  200-201 
m,  121-122;  foreign,  IW,  65;  home 
J\.  24,  64-65.  66;  labor.  HI.  122 
rV,  71;  philosophy  of  the,  H,  121 
ratio,  rV.  200-201;  separation  of 
state  and,  II.  310;  tj-ranny  of  the, 
IL  151-152;    the  worid's,  IV.  24,  85. 

MARKET,  SEPARATION  OF  STATE 
AND,  IL  306-311. 

Marriage.  L  43,  157;  EL,  93.  260;  HL 
18;  and  canon  law.  I,  59;  and  edu- 
cation, n,  94-95;  by  capture,  L 
48,  77,  85;  H,  262;  by  purchase,  L 
66,  68,  70.  74.  85.  86;  CathoUc  law 
of,  I,  60;  Christian  view  of,  I,  52-54; 
modem  notions  about,  II.  94,  96-97; 
moDogamic,  IIL  24;  pair-,  I.  52-53, 
80;  state  regulation  <rf,  IL  93-94, 
103-104. 

MartjTs,  rS",  428-429. 

Marx,  Kari,  HI,  41,  65. 

^lason,  Jeremiak,  r\',  352-353. 

Massachusetts,  m,  314-315;    H*.  51. 

Massachusetts  Bay  settlement,  ITT, 
291-292;  IK,  72." 

Masses,  the,  I,  242;  H,  39,  304;  KL 
162,  193-194,  339;  and  earth  hunger, 
n,  39:  power  of.  m,  131,  133;  wis- 
dom of,  m,  308. 


540 


INDEX 


"  Material  good,"  1, 158. 
Mathematics,  IV,  432. 
Means  and  end,  III,  85. 
"  Measures,  not  men,' '  III,  265. 
Mechanic  arts,  advance  in  the.  III,  153. 
Medieval  Christianity,  I,  140. 
Medieval  church,  the,  I,  133;    III,  74. 
Medieval   notions   of  liberty,    II,    141, 

157-158. 
Medieval  society,  I,  143-145,  215-217. 
Medieval  system,  the,  I,  131. 
Medieval  theory  of  rights,  II,  222;  III, 

45. 
Medieval  views  of  women,  I,  106-109. 
Megalomania,  I,  338,  339. 
Melanesia,  war  in,  I,  5. 
MEMORIAL  ADDRESS  by  Henry  de 

Forest   Baldwin,    III,    432^39;     by 

Otto  T.  Bannard,  III,  429-431;    by 

Albert  Galloway  Keller,  III,  440-450. 
MEMORIAL    DAY    ADDRESS,    III, 

347-362. 
Men,     I,     210;      making     better,     II, 

104-105;    the  demand  for,  II,  31-32; 

III,  111-116,  119-123,  132,  140-141, 

145,  154,  157,  171;    who  revolt.  III, 

139. 
MEN,     THE     DEMAND     FOR,     III, 

lll-llG. 
MEN,  THE  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE 

DEMAND    FOR,   III,    119-123. 
Menschcnwiirdiges  Dasein,  II,  212-216. 
Mercantile  theories,  IV,  289. 
Merchant-princes,  the.  III,  66. 
Metaphysician,  the.  III,  417. 
Metaphysics,  I,  167;  III,  58;   political, 

II,  82. 

Mexico,  I,  312;  II,  47,  51;  IV,  56,  150, 

317,  319,  365. 
Middle  Ages,  the,  II,  38-39, 87,  114-118, 

125,  314;    III,   66;    IV,  457;     mores 

of,  1, 152;  the  phantasm  of,  II,  18-20, 

21. 
Middle  class,   the,   II,   313,   314,  315; 

III,  35-36,  70-77,  129-130. 
"  Middlemarch,"  IV,  188,  433. 
Might,  III,  209;   and  right.  III,  239. 
Migration,  IV,  228,  229. 

Militancy,    I,    13,    28-30;     and   indus- 
try, I,  30;    and  peacefulness,  I,  28. 


Militant  notions  of  labor,  II,  189-191. 

Militant  type  of  society,  I,  28. 

Militarism,  I,  312-313,  314;  III, 
300-301,  321-322;  and  democracy, 
the  antagonism  of,  I,  322-323;  and 
industrialism,  the  conflict  between, 
I,  323-324,  348;  II,  190-191;  III, 
300-301;  and  plutocracy,  I,  325-326; 
in  Germany,  I,  323;    the   nature  of, 

I,  347-349. 
Military  discipline,  I,  30. 
Military  duty,  II,  125-126. 
Military  glory,  I,  303. 
Military  hero,  IV,  315,  316. 
Military  interest,  I,  .30. 
Military  service,  II,  120. 
Military  struggle,  II,  286-287. 
Mill,  John  Stuart,  IV,  81,  101. 
MILLENIUM,    THE    FIRST    STEPS 

TOWARDS  A,  II,  93-105. 
Millionaires,   II,  269;    III,  89-90. 
Miners,  mining,  IV,  41,  159-160. 
Minnesota,  II,  46;  IV,  50. 
Minority,  the,  III,  266. 
Mint  ratio,  IV,  200-201. 
Misery,    III,    23,    31,    32,    36-37,    47, 

121-123,  128,  298. 
Misfortune,  II,  229,  230;  III,  56-57,  67. 
Mississippi,  IV,  378,  384;    Valley,  IV, 

52,  55,  99. 
Missouri,    IV,    55;     Compromise,    IV, 

319,  320. 
Modern  age,  the,  II,  163;    temper  of, 

II,  27. 

Modern  church,  the,  I,   139;    III,  81. 
Modern  city,  the.  III,  169-170,  278-279, 

420. 
Modern  civilization,  1, 190;  II,  296-297. 
Modern  family,  the,  I,  60-61. 
Modern  industry,  II,  294;   III,  85-86; 

IV,  214-215,  217-219,  222,  223,  228, 

250,  259-260. 
Modern   languages,   I,   363-364. 
Modern  Uterature,  I,  153;   II,  27. 
Modern  mores,   I,   142-143,   145,   151, 

157;  II,  87,  89. 
Modern     notions     about     love.     III, 

424-425. 
Modern    notions    about    marriage,    II, 

94,  96-97. 


INDEX 


541 


Modem  politics,  I,  154. 

Modern  progress,  I,  241. 

Modem  religion,  I,  138-139,  142-143. 

Modern  society,  II,  309;    III,  changes 

in.  III,  394-395. 
Modern  spirit,  the,  III,  347-350. 
Modern  warfare,  I,  29. 
Modifications,  Necessary,  III,  277. 
Mohammedanism,  I,  47,  129,  134,  135, 

137,  140,  304;    the  civilizing  mission 

of,  I,  304. 
Mohammedans,  I,  25. 
Monarchy,  IV,  291,  292. 
Money,    IV,    82,    101,    144-145,    183, 

189-190,  20G;    fiat,   IV,   158;    hard, 

III,  370-371;  IV,  313;  market,  IV, 
377-378;  of  account,  IV,  177-178; 
paper.     III,     216,     325,     326.     400; 

IV,  25,  157,  158,  159,  160,  179,  189, 
196,  286,  289,  397,  398;  power,  IV, 
162,  170;  soft.  III,  371;  sharks,  IV, 
162;  token,  IV,  196. 

Monogamic  family,    the,    II,   254-258, 

264-266;   111,24. 
Monogamic  marriage.  III,  24. 
Monogamy,  I,  70,   151;    II,  254,  257; 

III,  18,  24;    position  of  children  in, 

II,  255,  256,  257,  265;  position  of 
women  in,  II,  255,  257. 

MONOPOLIES,       A       GROUP       OF 

NATURAL,  II,  245-248. 
Monopoly,  II,  124,  132-135,  210,  220, 

235-236,  249-253,  254-258,  270-279; 

III,  100;  IV,  12,  57,  82,  83,  88,  93, 
94,  99-100,  104,  105,  196,  198,  257, 
259,  261-262,  265-269,  487;  and 
civilization,    II,    249-253;     artificial, 

II,  135.  247;  IV,  282;  land,  II, 
239-244;  natural,  II,  132,  134-135, 
245-248,  249,  271-274;  IV,  257, 
267,  269;  limited  natural.  III,  387; 
pressure   of,    II,    242-243;     railroad, 

III,  179;    the  state  a,  II,  310. 
MONOPOLY,  ANOTHER  CHAPTER 

ON,  II,  249-253. 
MONOPOLY,  LAND,  II,  239-244. 
MONOPOLY,     THE     FAMILY,     II, 

254-258. 
MONOPOLY,     THE     STATE     AND, 

II.  270-279. 


Monroe,  James,  IV,  339,  342,  343,  355. 

Monroe  Doctrine,  the,  I,  36,  38-39, 
271,  276,  278,  280,  333;  II,  58,  59-60, 
333. 

Montaigne,  Michel  Eyquem  de,  I,  115, 
121;   II,  23. 

MonUina,  II,  44. 

Moral  forces.  III,  29-30,  201-202, 
352-353. 

Moral  juilgment,  I,  150. 

Moral  power,  III,  201-204. 

Moral  quality,  II,  177-178,  192-193. 

Moralists,  III,  423. 

Morals,  IV^  98,  436;  public,  II,  167, 
272-274;,  two  codes  of,  I,  11. 

Mores,  the,  I,  129-131,  132,  133,  135, 
141,  142-143,  145;  and  reUgion, 
the  interplay  of,  I,  130,  134,  135,  138, 
146;  and  rights,  II,  79,  83;  and  the 
status  of  women,  I,  67,  68;  defini- 
tion of,  I.  149-151;  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  I,  152;  of  the  Occident,  I,  152; 
of  the  Orient,  I,  152;  origin  of,  I, 
149-151;  modern,  I,  142-143,  145, 
151,  157;    II,  87,  89. 

MORES,  RELIGION  AND  THE,  I, 
129-146. 

MORES  OF  THE  PRESENT  AND 
FUTURE,  THE,  I,  149-164. 

Mortgagors,  IV,  168-169. 

Moses,  the  laws  of,  I,  67. 

Mother-family,  the,  I,  47-50,  69,  81-82, 
88. 

Motives,  II,  67;  and  consequences,  I, 
15;  the  four  great  social,  I,  14. 

Municipal  expansion,  I,  338-339. 

Mystical   political   economy.    III,   418. 

Mystical  sociology.  III,  418. 

Mysticism,  III,  415;  economic,  IV,  119; 
poUtical,  I,  220-221. 

Napoleon,  I,  32;    II,  1.34,  159;    IV,  65. 

Nation,  III,  353-360,  392;  IV,  12;  a 
strong,  IV,  85,  97;  an  inferior,  IV, 
52;  definition  of  a,  II,  353-354; 
requisites  for  a,  III,  354-360;  Our, 
the  Earliest  State  of,  III,  249-250; 
United  States  a.  III,  350,  354. 

National  bank  system,  the,  I,  31. 

National  convention,  IV,  361-362. 


542 


INDEX 


National  debt,  IV.  395. 

National  prosperity,  IV,  11,  16,  18, 
22,  25-26,  28,  33,  34,  47,  48-49,  50, 
77,  84,  106,  109;  art  of,  IV,  11-12, 
15,  16-17,  106. 

National  Republican  Party,  IV,  355- 
35G,  361. 

National  states,  I,  285. 

National  surplus,  IV,  395. 

National  vanity,  I,  300-301,  303,  304, 
343,  344;  II,  46,  651. 

National  wealth,  I,  307-308. 

Nationalism,  II,  130;   IV,  54. 

Nations,  the  family  of,  II,  62-63. 

Native  American  movement,  IV,  321. 

Natural  agents  as  monopolies,  II, 
239-243. 

Natural  fact,  a,  II,  135. 

Natural  forces,  I,  199,  209-210. 

Natural  law,  conception  of,  I,  172. 

Natural  liberty,  history  of  the  dogma 
of,  II,  112-121. 

Natural  monopoly,  II,  132,  134-135, 
215-218,  249,  271-274;  IV,  257,  267, 
269;   limited.  III,  387. 

NATURAL  MONOPOLIES,  A  GROUP 
OF,  II,  245-248. 

Natural  resources,  IV,  40,  41,  42,  43, 
119. 

Natural  rights,  I,  257-258;  II,  79,  81, 
219-220,  223,  224,  226-227;  III, 
33-34,  45;  IV,  322;  the  declara- 
tion of,  II,  224;  the  doctrines  of,  in 
Christianity,  II,  114-117;  the  doc- 
trines of,  to-day,  II,  119. 

NATURAL  RIGHTS,  SOME,  II, 
222-227. 

Nature,  II,  31,  32,  35, 138-139, 142-143, 
147,  210,  218-220,  233-234,  235,  236, 
237;  III,  17,  20,  21,  25,  112-113; 
IV,  480;  the  "  boon  "  of,  II,  210-211, 
218,  232-238;  III,  115;  the  "  boon  " 
of,  disproved  by  American  history, 
II,  238;  III,  291-292;  conquest 
from,  II,  236;  the  method  of.  III, 
29-30;  the  processes  of,  I,  34;  the 
"  state  "  of,  II,  131, 140,  219. 

NATURE,  THE  BOON  OF,  U,  233- 
238. 

Navigation  Act,  the,  HI,  323. 


Navigation  laws,  IV,  12. 

Navigation  system,  the,  I,  318,  320. 

Navy,  IV,  12,  22,  67,  68, 104,  301,  302. 

Necessities,  III,  17. 

Neglect,  I,  259. 

Negro  suffrage,  I,  330-331,  349. 

Negroes,  I,  28,  309,  328. 

Nervous  temper  of  the  age,  I,  162. 

Netherlands,  the,  I,  15. 

New  Brunswick,  IV,  55. 

New    countries,    settling,    I,    271-274; 

III,  148. 
New    country,    IV,    81,    97,    291-292, 

306-307.  371-372,  395;    the  society 

of  a.  III,  69-70. 
New  England,   III,  328;    IV.   33,  83, 

278-279,  322;    towns.  III,  256,  314; 

witchcraft  in,  I,  122-123. 
New  institutions.  III,  139-140. 
New  land.  III,  171-172,  338. 
New  Orleans,  IV,  55. 
New  philosophies.   III,   139-140,    195- 

196. 
New  Testament,   status  of  women  in 

the,  I,  80-81. 
New  world,  opening  up  of  the,  11,  315. 
New  York  City,  III,  420;  IV,  380,  381, 

382,  384,  385,  387,  388,  396-397. 
New  York  Evening  Post,  IV,  59. 
New  York  state,  IV,  57,  74,  307,  313, 

345,   350,   393;     politics   and   politi- 
cians,  III,   372-373;    IV,   309,   310. 
New  York  Times,  IV,  34,  70. 
New  York  Tribune,  IV,  86. 
New  Zealand,  IV,  65. 
Newspapers,     regulation    of    the,    11, 

273-274. 
Newton,  Isaac,  III,  40. 
Nickd,  IV,  35,  42,  94. 
N ilea's  Register  IV,  351. 
Nobles,  II,  312-313. 
"  Noble  savage,"  the,  II,  131. 
Nomadic  stage,  the,  II,  140. 
Nomads,   status  of  women  among,  I, 

65. 
Nomads  and  tillers.  III,  300. 
Nomination,    political.    III,    231-232, 

234. 
Non-capitalists,  III,  170-174;    IV,  12. 
Non-government,  IV,  14. 


INDEX 


543 


Non-interference,  II,  304,  305,  316-317. 
Non-union  laborers,  I,  251-252. 
North  American  Review,  IV,  100. 
Notion    that   everybody    ought    to    be 

happy.  III,  55-56. 
Notion     that     "  something     must     be 

done,"  II,  327. 
Notion   that   the   state   is   an   ethical 

person,  I,  221 ;  11,309. 
Nova  Scotia,  IV,  56. 
Novelists  and  sociology.  III,  424-425. 
Novels,  I,  168-169. 
Nullification,  III,  329;   IV,  354. 
Numbers,  III,   132;    and  quality.  III, 

27-28;     the    effect    of,    on    natural 

supplies,  II,  239-243. 

Obedience,  II,  80. 
"  Obsequium,"  I,  214-215. 
Occupations,  desired,  IV,  241-243,  245, 
Office,  rotation  in.  III,  263;    IV,  305, 

326-327,    352,    364;     the    spoils    of, 

II,  303. 
Office-holders,  III,  341;    IV,  307,  328, 

351-352,  489. 
Office-seekers,  IV,  286. 
Officers,    civil.    III,    267-268;     college, 

I,    360-361;     popular    selection    of, 

IV,  326. 
Offices,  pohtical.  III,  259. 
Ohio,  IV,  33-34. 
Oil,  IV,  85. 
Old  Testament,   status  of  women  in 

the,  I,  76-80. 
Oleomargarine  law,  the,  III,  187. 
Oligarchies  in  the   United  States,  '11, 

329-330. 
Oligarchy,  III,  805. 
"  Omnicracy,"  I,  221-222. 
"  One  man  power,"  fear  of.  III,  261. 
"  Open  door  "  policy,  the,  I,  319;  320, 

322. 
Opportunity,   II,   179,   337-338. 
OPPORTUNITY,  LIBERTY  AND,  II, 

176-181. 
Opposition,  the.  III,  282. 
Optimism,    I,    186-187;    II,   26;    eco- 
nomic, II,  31&-319,  324,  332;    the 

philosophy  of,  I,  159. 
Optimists,  m,  841-342,  344. 


Oracle,  III,  255. 

Ore,  IV,  36,  48. 

Organization,  II,  342-344;  III,  228, 
231,  279;  and  democracy.  III, 
266-267;  colonial  industrial.  III, 
294;  colonial  lack  of.  III,  324-325; 
colonial  social.  III,  310-323;  of 
civilized  society,  II,  144-145,  250, 
251,  2.5-2,  253,  283-287;  of  labor, 
III,  100,  139;  of  society,  I,  213;  II, 
261,  286-287;  political,  II,  303-364; 
III,  339-340;  IV,  308,  309,  311, 
328;  social,  I,  15,  30-38,  198-199, 
238-239;  III,  87,  292-293,  309- 
310,  310-323,  331,  336-341;  the 
Imbecility  of  Our  Present,  III,  270- 
271. 

Organs  of  society,  the,  II,  284-286. 

Others-group,  the,  I,  9. 

Other-worldliness,  I,  141-142,  143. 

OUR  COLLEGES  BEFORE  THE 
COUNTRY,  I,  355-373. 

"  Our  country,  right  or  wrong,"  IV, 
319-320. 

Out-group,  the,  I,  9-13. 

Outlying  continents,  II,  43;  the  ex- 
ploitation of,  II,  47-50;  the  opening 
up  of,  II,  315;  III,  122,  171-172; 
the  settlement  of,  I,  271-274;  III, 
148. 

Overpopulation,  I,  59,  126,  164,  184, 
185,  187-188,  305-306;  III,  22-23, 
120-121. 

Overproduction,  IV,  82. 

Overwork,  II,  193. 


Pain,  II,  220,  312. 

Paine,  Thomas,  III,  306;   IV,  285,  286. 

Pair-marriage,  I,  52-53,  80. 

Panama  Congress,  the,  I,  276;    II,  57- 

58,  60. 
Panic,  IV,  157;  of  1873,  IV,  173. 
Paper  currency  a  natural  monopoly,  II, 

247. 
Paper  money.  III,  216,  325,  326,  400; 

IV,  25,  157,  158,  159,  160,  179,  189, 

196,  286,  289,  397,  398. 
Papuans,  war  among  the,  I,  4. 
PARABLE,  A,  III,  105-107. 


544 


INDEX 


Parents,  III,  18-19;  and  children,  the 
rights    and    duties    of,    II,    95-102. 

Parliamentary  debate.  III,  28l-2Si. 

Parties,  political.  III,  266,  268-273, 
339-340,  366-368,  393-394,  397;  IV. 
287-289,  292,  293-294,  310,  318,  322, 
320-327,  339,  349,  350. 

Parties  are  Irresponsible.  Ill,  272-273. 

Parton,  IV,  350. 

Party,  the  Democratic,  I,  160;  IV. 
312,  313,  316,  318,  319,  320,  321, 
322-323,  363;  the  Federal,  HI,  328- 
329;  the  Republican,  I.  100;  IV, 
321,  322,  323,  327. 

Party  government,  III,  393-394. 

Party  interest,  II,  327-328. 

Party  loyalty,  IV,  309,  310,  327. 

Party  machinery.  III,  368,  369;  IV. 
309,  311. 

Party  methods,  IV,  333. 

Party  spirit,  IV,  292. 

Party  spoils,  II,  328, 

Passport,  IV,  17,  88. 

Patents  as  artificial  monopolies,  II,  247. 

Paternal  legislation,  II,  275-279. 

Paternal  theory,  IV,  494-495. 

Paternalism,  I.  2G7-268;    II,  275-279. 

Pathos,  III.  247. 

Patria  potestas,  I,  69. 

"  Patrimony  of  the  Disinherited."  the, 

II,  233. 

Patriotism,    I,    12,    301,    302;     II,    26; 

III,  352;   IV,  125. 
Patronage,  III,  254. 

Patronizing  the  working  classes,  I,  250. 

Pauperization,  II,  215. 

Paupers.  IV,  101,475,476. 

Peace,  III,  360;  and  religion,  I,  24-26; 
-element,  development  of  the,  I, 
16;  for  women,  I,  21;  -group,  the, 
I,  11,  17,  18-19,  23,  24-26,  27,  28,  35; 
-institutions,  I,  16-24;  -institu- 
tions of  civilized  nations,  I,  20-24; 
-institutions  of  the  West  Austra- 
lians, I,  18;  makes  war,  I,  11;  of 
God,  I,  21;  of  the  house,  I,  16-17,  21; 
-pacts,  I,  7,  10;  -rules.  I,  16;  -ta.boo, 
I,  16,  18,  26;  the  king's,  I,  21-23; 
the  triumphs  of,  I,  315;  universal,  I, 
35-36. 


Peaceful  access,  I,  17. 

Peacefulness  and  militancy,  I,  28. 

Peasant-proprietors,  III,  295,  301; 
IV,  48. 

Peasants,  II,  292,  312-314,  315. 

Pearson,  Karl,  II,  17,  18. 

Penalties,  II,  180-181;  of  vice,  I,  252. 

Pennsylvania,  IV,  33,  42,  313,  389, 
390,  391-392;  Relief  Act,  IV,  392, 
393. 

Pensions,  I,  262;    IV,  101,  489. 

People,  the,  I,  222,  224;  II,  290-293, 
307,  329;  III,  223-236,  255-256, 
26t.  308,  328;  IV,  469-470;  sov- 
ereignty of.  III,  263-264;  the  sov- 
ereign, 111,  370-371;  voice  of,  IV, 
298;  will  of,  IV,  314,  318,  328,  329, 
341,  348. 

Pepper,  IV,  265-267, 

Periodicals  for  boys,  II,  367-377. 

Perpetual  motion,  IV,  196,  201. 

Persians,  status  of  women  among  the, 

I,  75-76. 

Personal    superiority    a    natural    mo- 
nopoly, II,  247-248. 
Persons  and  capital.  Ill,  27-28, 
Peru,  IV,  365. 
Pessimism,  I.  186-187;  II,  26;  political, 

II,  31J)-333. 

"  Pest  of  glory,"  the,  I,  292,  313;  II,  50. 
Pestilence,  IV,  465. 
Pets,  social,  I,  248;   IV,  494. 
Phantasm,  II,  25;   definition  of,  II,  18; 

of  the  Middle  Ages,  II,   18-20.  21; 

political,  II,  189. 
Philadelphia,   IV,   380,   381,   382,   384, 

385,  387,  388,  389,  390,  393,  396-397; 

American,  the,  IV,  20. 
Philanthropic  schemes,  I,  247-248. 
Philanthropists,  III,  416;   IV,  475,  476, 

493. 
Philanthropy,  HI,  48.  127.  128. 
Philippines,  the,  I,  162,  300,  301-302, 

310,  311-312;   II,  69;   acquisition  of, 

I,  343,  344,  345;    independence  of. 

I,  351. 

Philosophers,  III,  255,  416-417,  423; 
IV,  299,  300,  365,  483,  493;    social, 

II,  338-339,  349;    lU.  48;    a  priori, 

III,  244-245. 


INDEX 


545 


Philosophies,  new.  III,  139-140. 

Philosophizing,  IV.  300,  467. 

PhUosophy,  I,  131,  164;  III,  56-57, 
59,  153,  157-158;  IV,  116,  118; 
eighteenth  century.  III,  87;  of 
colonization,  II,  43-45;  of  optimism, 

I,  159;  of  the  market,  II,  121;  po- 
litical, I,  158-159,  162,  310;  III, 
244-245;  popular,  IV,  240;  reli- 
gious, I,  158-159;  sentimental,  I, 
177;  III,  31-32,  36;  social,  I, 
238-239;  II,  339-340;  III,  32-35, 
68-69;  the  new.  III,  195-196; 
world-,  I,  129,  133,  134,  143. 

Phrases,  high-sounding.  III,  161. 

Pickering,  Timothy,  IV,  295. 

Plato,  I,  98-99. 

Plunder,  III,  66,  71-72,  73;   IV,  23. 

Plutocracy,  I,  207,  262;  II,  289,  293- 
295,  310,  316,  329;  III,  212;  defini- 
tion of,  II,  293;  and  democracy,  the 
antagonism  of,  I,  160,  204,  325-326; 

II,  299-300,    329;     and    expansion, 

I,  325-326;  and  imperialism,  I, 
325-326;  and  militiirism,  I,  325-326; 
and  politic;il  institutions,  II,  298-299. 

PLUTOCRACY,     DEFINITIONS     OF 

DEMOCRACY    AND,    II,    290^-295. 

PLUTOCRACY,   DEMOCRACY  AND, 

II,  283-289. 

PLUTOCRACY    AND    DEMOCRACY, 

THE  CONFLICT  OF,  II,  296-300. 
Plutocrat,  definition  of  a,  II,  298. 
Plymouth    settlement,    the,    II,    238; 

III,  291-292. 
Poland,  II,  313. 
Police,  city.  III,  329. 
Police  defense,  I,  36. 

Policy,  II,  68-70;  and  doctrine  con- 
trasted, I,  37;  of  the  "  open  door," 
I,  319,  320,  322;  the  prosperity,  I, 
68,  154,  307,  318;  the  protectionist, 
I,  318,  319,  320-321,  322;  vigorous 
foreign,  IV,  66-67. 

Political  action,  dependence  of  indus- 
try on,  I  ,320-321. 

Political   alarmists,   III,   341,   342-343. 

POLITICAL  AND  SOCIAL  SCIENCE, 
INTRODUCTORY  LECTURE  TO 
COURSES  IN,  III,  391^03. 


Political  "  backing."  Ill,  368.  369. 

Political  boss,  IV.  327-329. 

Political  Ciilling,  III,  396. 

Political  campaigns.  I,  337;  IV,  29, 
49, 95,  315-316. 

Political  changes,  recent,  I,  241-242. 

Political  corruption  in  the  United 
States,  III,  395-396,  397. 

Political  debauchery.  III,  268. 

Politiwd  discussion.  III,  277-278;  the 
temper  of  our,  I,  346-347. 

Political  doctrines,  IV,  352. 

Political  dogmas,  III,  193-194,  258. 

Pohtical  dogmatism.  II.  23;  III, 
252-253. 

Political  earth  hunger,  II,  64;  defini- 
tion of,  II,  46;  contrivsted  with 
economic,  II,  63;  of  the  United 
States,  II,  50-51,  53. 

Political  economy,  I,  180-183;  III, 
395,  398-400;  IV,  17,  19,  100,  118, 
189,  195,  209,  216,  289.  337;  art  of, 
IV.  102;   mystical,  III,  418. 

Political  element  in  socialism.  III, 
46-48. 

Political  energy,  II,  295. 

Political  equality.  III,  303-304;  in 
the  American  colonies.  III,  249-250. 

Political  influence,  I,  261. 

Political  institutions.  III,  247-248; 
IV,  346;  and  plutocracy,  II,  298-299; 
false  notions  about.  III,  243-244; 
inventing  new.  III,  243-244,  253; 
of  the  American  colonies.  III,  249; 
the  strain  on,  II,  332-333. 

Political  interference,  II,  332. 

Political  issue  of  1860,  IV,  323-324. 

Political  Judgment,  Errors  of,  HI, 
243-244. 

Political  jurisdiction,  II.  52. 

Political  leaders.  III.  259. 

Political  liberty  of  the  American  col- 
onies, III,  320-321. 

Political  machinery.  III,  231-235,  238, 
267-268,  368.  369,  394;  IV,  307,  327- 
329,  333,  350-351.  361-362. 

Political  metaphysics,  II,  82. 

Political  mysticism,  I,  220-221. 

Political  nomination.  III,  231-232.  234. 

Political  offices,  III,  259. 


546 


INDEX 


Political  optimists.  III,  341-342,  344. 
Political  organization,  II,  363-364;   IV, 

308,  309,  311,  328;    advancing.  III, 

339-340;  and  war,  1,4. 
Political    parties.    III,    266,    268-273, 

339-340,  366-368,  393-394,  397;   IV, 

287-289,    292,    293-294,    310,    318, 

322,  326-327,  339,  349,  350. 
Political  pessimism,  II,  319-333. 
Political  phantasm,  II,  89. 
Political   philosophy,   I,   158-159,   162, 

310;    IV,   285-286,  298;    Errors  of, 

III,  244-245. 
Political  power,  II,  290,  293,  294;   III, 

46-47,  58,  164,  173-174. 
Political  problems,  I,  230-231. 
Political  prophets.  III,  341-344. 
Political  reform,  IV,  332;   the  path  of, 

III,  232. 
Political  regulation,  II,  326. 
Political  responsibility.  III,  271-273. 
Political  rights  and  duties.  III,  224. 
Political  science,  IV,  108;   the  scope  of, 

III,  395;    vague  notions  about.  III, 

391. 
Political  skepticism.  III,  274-275. 
Political  system  of  the  United  States, 

III,  341-342. 

Political  topics,  speculation  on.  III,  246. 
Political  tyranny,  I,  222-223. 
Political  vice,  I,  300-301,  302. 
Political  warfare.  III,  268-270. 
Political  will,  IV,  333. 
Politicians,  I,  35,  37;  IV,  308,  361,362. 
Politics,    II,   339;     III,   227,   396^398; 

IV,  293-296,  302,  310,  323,  324, 
327,  329,  337,  338,  363,  435;  and 
business,    IV,    135;    and    witchcraft, 

I,  125-126;       II,      23;       "high," 

II,  56;  modern,  I,  154;  the  art 
of.    III,    246-247;    the    science    of, 

III,  246-247. 

POLITICS,    ECONOMICS    AND,    II, 

318-333. 
POLITICS  IN  AMERICA,  1776-1876, 

IV,  285-333. 

Polk,  James  K.,  IV,  318. 
Polyandry,  II,  264. 

Polygamy,  I,  52,  69,  77,  79,  80;  II,  262, 
263-264. 


Pooling,  III,  179,  219. 

"  Pools,"  II,  253. 

Poor,  the.  III,  65-77;  IV,  395-396, 
475,  494. 

Poor-laws,  III,  74. 

Poor  relief,  II,  183. 

Popular  conviction,  11,  326-327. 

Popular  institutions.  III,  276-277. 

Popularity,  II,  72-73;  III,  318-319; 
IV,  299,  340. 

Population,  I,  174-175,  241;  II,  93; 
IV,  47-48,  59,  71,  86,  90-91,  142, 
144-145,  402;  homogeneous.  III,  354- 
355;  increase  of,  I,  4,  10;  III,  140-141, 
171-172,  315;  law  of,  I,  175-176; 
Malthusian  law  of,  I,  181-182; 
movement  of,  IV.  227,  229,  242; 
movement  of,  from  Europe,  I,  272- 
274;  II,  45;  movement  of,  in  the 
United  States,  II,  44;  over-,  I,  59, 
126,  164,  184,  185,  187-188,  305-306; 
III,  22-23,  120-121;  ratio  of,  to 
land,  I,  174-176,  188;  II,  31,  32-35, 
37^0,  42,  44;  III,  22-23,  40,  296; 
under-,  I,  1,59,  183-184,  185, 187-188; 
II,  42,  43,  44;  III,  22-23, 121. 

Populists,  IV,  160,  162,  166. 

Porter,  R.  P.,  IV,  26. 

Possession,  security  of,  II,  150, 153. 

Possession  of  the  soil,  forms  of  the,  I, 
178-180. 

Post  notes,  IV,  379,  382,  387. 

Poverty,  II,  357-358;  III,  23,  30,  31, 
32,  37,  47,  57,  59,  60-61,  65-77,  146, 
298;  and  progress.  III,  65-66;  and 
wealth,  III,  65-77;  relative.  II,  229- 
230;    the  abolition   of,  II.    228-232. 

POVERTY,  THE  ABOLITION  OF, 
II,  228-232. 

Power,  II,  177-178;  III,  84-85, 145-150; 
and  results.  III,  138,  140;  economic, 
II,  318;  irresponsible.  III,  225, 
264;  moral.  Ill,  201-204;  of  capital, 
II,  297;  of  ideas,  II,  74;  of  mankind, 
the  new.  III,  207,  211;  political,  II, 
290,  293,  294;  III,  46-47,  58,  164, 
173-174;  productive,  II,  210;  social, 
I,  199;  II.  180-181,  220;  III,  140, 
141-142,  145-147.  150,  153-158; 
state  abuse  of.  III,  71-72. 


INDEX 


547 


POWER,   CONSEQUENCES  OF  IN- 
CREASED   SOCIAL,    III,    153-158. 
POWER     AND     BENEFICENCE     OF 

CAPITAL,  THE,  II.  337-353. 
POWER      AND      PROGRESS,       III, 

145-150. 
Precious    metals,    the,    IV,     191-210, 

225-226. 
Preparedness,  I,  39-40. 
(PRESIDENT)     FOR     PRESIDENT  ? 

m,  365-379. 
President  of  the  United  States,   posi- 
tion of  the.  III,  283. 
Presidential     election.     III,     253-254, 

272-273,  335. 
Press,  freedom  of  the,  II,  273,  274. 
Prices,  IV,  12,  82,  101,  133-134,  141, 

142-145,  168-169,  178,  202,  220-221; 

rise    in,    IV,    161-162;     wages    and, 

IV,  249-250,  252. 
Primary,  the,  III,  231,  234,  267. 
Primitive  family,  the,  I,  43-44,  46-47; 

II,  260-261,  262,  263-264. 
Primitive  horde,  the,  II,  260-261. 
Primitive    liberty,    II,    131,    132-133, 

136-140,  141,  361-362. 
Primitive  society,  I,  7-9. 
Primitive  state  of  mankind,  I,  3,   14; 

n,  219-220,  230,  234-235,  237-238, 

340,  357-358,  360;   III,  149. 
Primitive  trade,  IV,  53. 
Principles,  great,  I,  161-163,  326-329; 

II,    58;     III,    245-246;     Falsely    So 

Called,  III,  245-246. 
Printing,  the  invention  of.  III,  153. 
Private  interests.  III,  258-259,  261. 
Private    property,    II,    259;     III,    25; 

in  land,  I,  179-180;    II,  243,  258. 
Privilege  and  rights,  II,  126. 
Privilege     with     servitude,     II,     124, 

125-126,   127,  128. 
Privilege  with  superiority,  II,  123. 
Producer,  IV,  21-22, 101, 104. 
Product,  mode  of  alienating,  IV,  23. 
Production,  TV,  19,  73,  214;    cost  of, 

IV,  65. 
Profits,  IV,  27,  79. 
Progress,   I,   152;    III,   18,  31-32,  49, 

50-51,    127,    146-148,    150,    169-174, 

391-392;  IV,  222,  239;  and  equality, 


III,  299;    and  poverty.  III,  65-66; 
checks  on,  II,  35-37,  163;    meaning 
of.    III,    147;     modem,    I,    241;     of 
society,  IV,  427,  428. 
PROGRESS,     POWER     AND,     III, 
14.5-150. 

PROGRESS?  WHO  WIN  BY,  III, 
169-174. 

Proletariat,  the,  II,  316;  III,  77, 
161-1(5,  169;    IV,  71,  357,  470. 

"  PROLETARIAT  "  ?  WHAT  IS  THE, 
III,  161-165. 

Property,  II,  217-218.  259-269;  III, 
61;  IV,  231;  and  labor,  II,  243-244; 
and  liberty,  II,  173-174;  and  the 
family,  II,  254,  258;  definition  of, 
II,  173;  private,  II,  259;  III,  25; 
private,  in  land,  I,  179-180;  II.  243, 
258;  redistribution  of.  III,  58,  60-61, 
62,  69;  war  and,  I,  4;  women  as, 
II,  262. 

PROPERTY,  LIBERTY  AND,  II, 
171-176. 

PROPERTY,  THE  FAMILY  AND,  II, 
259-269. 

PROPOSED  DUAL  ORGANIZATION 
OF    MANKIND,   THE,   I,    271-281. 

Prosperity,  IV,  150,  151,  153,  222,  306, 
307;  material,  IV,  345;  notions 
about,  IV,  116-117;  national,  IV, 
11-12,  15,  16-18,  22,  25-26,  28, 
33,  34,  47,  48-49,  50,  77,  84,  106,  109; 
poHcy,  I,  68,  154,  307,  318. 

PROSPERITY  STRANGLED  BY 
GOLD,  IV,  141-145. 

Prostitution,  I,  70,  71,  82. 

Protected  industries,  I,  263-264,  266; 
II,  320;   IV,  136. 

Protection,  IV,  123-127,  234;  im- 
practicability of,  IV,  94-95;  inci- 
dental, IV,  136,  374. 

Protectionism,  III,  187;  IV,  118,  131- 
138;  assumptions  in,  TV,  13,  18, 
25-26,  33,  105;  definition  of,  IV, 
16;  demoralization  caused  by,  IV^,  99. 

PROTECTIONISM,  IV,  9-111. 

PROTECTIONISM  TWENTY  YEARS 
AFTER,  IV,  131-138. 

Protectionist  policy,  I,  318,  319, 
320-321,  322. 


548 


INDEX 


Protectionists,  IV,  125-127,  374. 
Protective  system,  the,  IV,  30-31,  34, 

44-45. 
Protective    tariff,    I,     154,     155,    263, 

279;   II,   61,   68;    III,   88,   216-217, 

400;    IV,    131-138,    275,    277,    489- 

490. 
Protective     taxes,     I,     263,     264-266; 

III,  74;  IV,  16,  18.  19,  20,  21,  36, 
43,  44,  50,  82,  86,  87,  97,  99,  105, 
108,    117-119,     123;     definition    of, 

IV,  20,  21. 
Protestantism,  I,  129. 
Protestants,  II,  21,  22. 
Prussian  bureaucracy,  IV,  481. 
Public,  the,  IV,  307. 

Public  buildings,  IV,  488. 

Public  calamity,  TV,  465. 

Public  disturbances,  IV,  357. 

Public  good,  IV,  426,  427. 

Public  interest,  I,  234-235;  III,  258-459, 

260-261;  IV,  232,  324-325. 
Public  life,  IV,  293,  294,  295. 
Public  morals,  II,  167,  272-274. 
Publicoffice,  IV,  485. 
Public  opinion.  III,  264,  279,  392-393, 

394;    IV,  293;    of  a  to\vn.  III,  318. 
Public    service,     IV,    310,    328,    333, 

351-352;     abuses    of    the,    I,    260- 

261. 
Public  workshops,  IV,  79,  92. 
Publicity,  IV,  410. 

Puerto  Rico,  the  acquisition  of,  I,  343. 
Punishment,  IV,  484. 
Puritan  sects,  I,  132. 
Puritans,  the,  I,  24. 
Purposes,  II,  67-69,  70.  71,  72,  73,  74, 

75. 
PURPOSES  AND  CONSEQUENCES, 

n,  67-75. 


Quakers,  the,  I,  24,  138. 

Quahty,  III,  27-28;  moral,  11,  177-178, 

192-193. 
Quantity  doctrine,' IV.  141. 
Quarrel,  I,  4,  7. 

Questions,  individual,  III,  95-96. 
Questions  ill-defined,  I,  229,  230,  231, 

232. 


Race  antagonism  in  the  United  States, 

1,28. 
Race  problem,  the.  III,  377. 
Race  question,  the.  III,  409. 
Races,  "  elevating  "  inferior.  III,  146. 
Racial  progress  and  war,  I,  16. 
Radicalism  Repudiated,  III,  247-248. 
Radium,  II,  318. 

Railroad  commisioners.  III,  189-190. 
Railroad  monopoly.  III,  179. 
Railroad  passes,  II,  326. 
Railroad  question,  the.  III,  178-182. 
Railroad  wars,  I,  240. 
Railroads,  II,  275-279;    III,   177-182; 

IV,  87,  261;    as  natural  monopolies, 

II,  245;     in    North    America,    III, 
217-219;  legislation  on.  III,  177-182. 

RAILROADS,  FEDERAL  LEGISLA- 
TION ON,  III,  177-182. 

Rate  of  interest,  II,  349-351;  IV,  52, 
177-178;   the  devil  of,  II.  353. 

Rate  of  wages,  I,  237. 

Rates,  II,  330-331;  freight,  II,  327, 
330-331. 

Realities,  II,  322;   III,  408. 

Reality,  II,  18,  19,  20,  24,  27. 

"  Reasons  of  state,"  I,  37,  333;  II, 
165-106;    III,  240. 

Recitation,  the  art  of,  I,  366. 

Reconstruction,  III,  376,  378,  398. 

Reform,  III,  279-280;  IV,  468;  ad- 
ministrative, III,  372-374;  civil 
service.  III,  262-263,  279-280,  308; 
field  of.  III,  202;  political,  III,  232; 
IV,  332;  social,  I,  252-253. 

Reformers,  social,  I,  195-196;  IV, 
483,  493. 

Refugees,  IV,  286. 

Regency,  IV,  308. 

Regulation,  II,  326;  of  commerce.  III, 
323,  326;  of  industry,  I,  216-217; 
of  interstate  commerce,  II,  275-279, 
288,  300,  326;  III,  189-190,  216-219, 
316;  of  the  newspapers,  II,  273-274; 
of  war,  I,  19-20;   state,  II,  285-287; 

III,  177,  210. 

Rehgion,  I,  168;  II,  255;  III,  417; 
and  ethnocentrism,  I,  24-25;  and 
peace,  I,  24-26;  and  science,  11, 
24-25;    and  tradition,   I,   131;    and 


INDEX 


549 


war,    I,    11,    14-15,    19-20,    24-26; 

and  the  mores,  the  interplay  of,  I, 

130,  134,  135,  138,  146;    and  witch- 
craft, 1, 119-121;  modern,  I,  138-139; 

the  nature  of,  I,  130. 
RELIGION     AND    THE    MORES,    I, 

129-146. 
Religious  dogmas,  I,  129-130. 
Religious  duties,  I,  130. 
Religious  philosophy,  I,  158-159. 
Religious  reformations,  I,  133. 
Religious  sects,  I,  138. 
Religious  wars,  I,  25. 
Remonetization,  IV,  165-170,  194. 
Renaissance,  the,  I,  141-142,  158. 
Rent,  IV,  87;    of  land.  III,  172,  320; 

the  Ricardian  law  of,  I,  181-182. 
Renunciation,  II,  300,  306-307,  310. 
Representative    democracy.    III,    260- 

275;  the  weaknesses  of.  III,  270-271. 
Republic,  constitutional,  IV,  290,  296, 

331;    dangers  to  the.  III,  239-240; 

the    nature    of    a    democratic,     II, 

301-302,  303,  305,  308. 
REPUBLICAN    GOVERNMENT,    III, 

223-240. 
Republican  government.  III,  223-240; 

definition  of.  III,  223,  226;   assump- 
tions of.  III,  227-230. 
Republican  party,  the,  I,  160;  IV,  321, 

322,  323,  327. 
Republicans,  IV,  297. 
Republics,   III,   225-227;    the  Italian, 

II,    314;     the    South    American,    I, 

277-278;   III,  230. 
Requisites  for  study.  III,  391. 
Responsibility,    U,    158-160;     III,   46, 

224-226;     and   hberty,   II,    158-160. 

180;   III,  96;   political.  III,  271-273; 

the  principle  of.  III,  282-286. 
RESPONSIBILITY,    LIBERTY    AND, 

II,  156-160. 
RESPONSIBILITY,   THE   SHIFTING 

OF,  III,  19»-198. 
Responsible  classes,  burdens  of  the,  11, 

216. 
Responsible  Government,  III,  280-281. 
RESPONSIBLE  GOVERNMENT, 

DEMOCRACY  AND,  III,  243-286. 
Restrictions,  IV,  123. 


Results,  III,  138,  140. 

Resumption,  IV,  397-398;  act.  III,  372. 

Revenue,  IV,  20,  22,  109,  115-117; 
from  dependencies,  I,  316-317;  sur- 
plus, IV,  109. 

Revolution,  III,  347;  the  commercial, 
I,  141;  the  economic,  II,  315;  the 
industrial,  I,  141;   II,  42;    the  social, 

III,  338-339. 

Revolutionary  delusions,  III,  329-331. 
Revolutionary  doctrines.  III,  328. 
Revolutionary  heroes,  IV,  366. 
Revolutionary  period,  the.  III,  323-331. 
Revolutionary  principles,   III,  330. 
Revolutionary  War,  the.  III,  323-325; 

IV,  285,  286;  justification  of.  III, 
324;  merits  of  the  quarrel.  III, 
323-324. 

Ricardian  law  of  rent,  1, 181-182. 

Rich,  the.  III,  65-77,  88-90. 

Right  and  might.  III,  239. 

Right  to  an  existence,  II,  225-227. 

Right  to  be  chosen  to  office.  III,  263. 

Right  to  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit 
of  happiness,  II,  234. 

Right  to  the  full  product  of  labor,  II, 
224-226. 

Right  to  work.  III,  34-35. 

Rights,  I,  159-160,  163,  164;  II,  81, 
82,  83,  87,  211,  220,  358;  III,  76, 
208,  209,  239;  IV,  365,  472;  and 
duties,  I,  257-258;  III,  193,  197-198, 
224;  IV,  494-495;  and  duties,  equi- 
librium of,  II,  126-127,  128-129, 
165;  IV,  472,  473;  and  duties  of 
parents  and  children,  II,  95-102; 
and  duties,  political,  III,  224;  and 
force,  II,  82;  and  privilege,  II,  126; 
and  the  mores,  II,  79,  83;  a  product 
of  civilization,  II,  83;  chartered,  II, 
222-223;  eighteenth  century  no- 
tions   about,    II,     222-223;     guest-, 

I,  10-11,  17-18;    in  the  in-group,  I, 

II,  17;  II,  79-80;  medieval  no- 
tions about,  II,  222;  III,  45;  "  natu- 
ral," I,  257-258;  II,  79,  81,  114-117, 
119,  219-220,  223,  224;  III,  33-34, 
45;  IV,  322;  notion  of,  IV,  471;  of 
man,  II,  223;  III,  33-34;  of  society, 
II,  97-98. 


550 


INDEX 


RIGHTS,  II,  79-83. 

RIGHTS,      SOME      NATURAL,     II, 

222-227. 
"  Ring,"  the.  III,  261-262;  IV,  328. 
Risk  element,  II,  184-185;   IV,  268. 
Ritner,  Governor,  IV,  385. 
Ritual,  1, 132, 133, 135, 136. 
Robbery,  IV,  23. 
Robespierre,  Maximilien,  II,  212. 
Rodbertus,  Karl,  I,  271;    II,  48,  109, 

110;  III,  65. 
Roman  Catholics,  II,  21-22. 
Roman  family,  the,  I,  56-60. 
Roman  State,  the,  I,  32-33,  213-215; 

II,  34,  48,  113. 
Romanism,  I.  129,  132. 
Rome,  I,  214;    III,  66,  71-73,  74,  119, 

120,   162;    slavery  at.  III,  71,   119; 

status  of  women  at,  I,  56-60. 
Roth,  Conrad,  IV,  265-268. 
Rothschild,     IV,     388;      fortunes,     I, 

201-202. 
Rousseau,  Jean  Jacques,  1, 162;  II,  131, 

137,  138;  III,  39-40. 
Rules  of  war,  I,  19-20. 
Russia,  I,  235,  286,  293,  304;   II,  270, 

300,   313;    III,   234;    IV,    135,   282; 

as  a  colonizer,  II,  52;    the  civilizing 

mission  of,  I,  304. 

St.  Gothard  tunnel,  IV,  57. 

St.  John,  J.  P.,  IV,  141,  142,  144,  145, 
150, 151, 158, 178-179. 

Sandwich  Islands,  IV,  65. 

Sanitary  arrangements.  III,  123;  the 
importance  of,  II,  239-240. 

Sansculottism,  III,  306. 

Savage,  the,  and  freedom.  III,  26. 

Savage,  the  "  noble,"  II,  131. 

Savage  life,  the  hardships  of,  11,  138- 
139;  the  status  of  women  in,  I,  46. 

Savage  names,  I,  12. 

Savings,  III,  163;  IV,  32;  accumula- 
tion of,  II,  349-352;  bank  depositor, 
II,  345,  346-347,  348-349,  352-353; 
banks,  II,  337,  349;  benefit  of,  II, 
337,  347,  348-349. 

Scandinavia,  III,  299-300. 

Scandinavians,  the,  I,  20. 

School,  the.  III,  203-204;  IV,  19,  38, 
413;  andthefamily,  I,  61. 


School  discipline,  I,  368. 

School  system,  the  common,  III,  357. 

Schoolboy,  the,  and  liberty,  II,  140- 
141. 

Schools,  II,  98-101,  121-122;  trade,  II, 
101. 

Science,  I,  369,  371-373;  III,  417;  IV, 
216,  346,  402,  404,  431-432;  ad- 
vance   of.    III,    415;     and    religion, 

II,  24-25;  definition  of,  II,  18,  75; 
of  life,  IV,  337-338;  of  politics.  III, 
246-247;  of  society,  II,  71,  284,  285; 
political.  III,  391,  395;  social,  I, 
239;  II,  168,  171,  208,  217,  218, 
364;  III,  127,  141,  148,  150;  IV, 
20,  226. 

Sciences,  I,  167;  II,  32;  IV,  189; 
exact.    III,    410;     progress    of    the, 

III,  170-174;  the  social.  III,  246, 
407;    IV,  337-338. 

SCIENTIFIC  ATTITUDE  OF  MIND, 

THE,  II,  17-28. 
Scientific  method,   the,   II,  24-25,  26; 

111,401;  need  of,  III,  425. 
Scientific  sociology.  III,  419-420. 
Scotland,     witch-persecutioos     in,     I, 

115-116. 
Secession,  III,  329. 
Security,  II,  23-24,  208;   of  possession, 

II,  150,  153. 
Sedgwick,  Theodore,  IV,  294. 
Self-control,  II,  168,  184;  lU,  19. 
Self-denial,  II,  34,  236,  238,  344;    III, 

19,  52. 
Self-government,  I,  300,  301,  302-303, 

312,  349-350;  III,  226-227,  229-230, 

238,  285. 
Selfishness,  III,  423-424. 
Self-made  men,  IV,  431. 
Self-maintenance,  III,  127-128. 
Self-perpetuation,  III,  127-128. 
Self-will,  IV,  349. 
Seminoles,  IV,  342;    war  with  the,  IV, 

355. 
Senate,  IV,  185,  360. 
Sensationalism,  IV,  409-410,  413,  417. 
Sentiment,  III,   127;    family,  II,  256- 

257,  266-268;    III,  19-20;    genuine, 

II,  212;  group,  I,  9. 
SENTIMENT,     AN     EXAMINATION 

OF  A  NOBLE,  II,  212-216. 


INDEX 


551 


Sentimental  philosophy,  I,  177;  III, 
31-32,  36. 

Sentimental  sociology-.  III,  419,  420. 

Sentimental  view  of  social  matters, 
II,  70-72,  73,  74. 

Sentimentalism,  III,  415,  417. 

Sentimentalist,  the.  III,  419,  421-122, 
423;   IV,  493. 

Serfdom,  III,  299-301,  303,  311. 

Serfs,  emancipation  of  the,  II,  117-118, 
175-176. 

Servile  classes,  the,  II,  38-39. 

Servitude,  II,  123-124;  privilege  with, 
II,  124,  125-126,  127,  128;  with 
inferiority,  II,  123. 

Settlement,  the  law  of,  II,  125. 

Sex-vice,  I,  78. 

Sherman  Act,  the,  IV,  149. 

Ship-buUding,  IV,  12,  54,  67,  68, 
273-274,  277,  278,  279-280. 

Ships,  IV,  57-58,  70,  273-282. 

(SHIPS)  SHALL  AMERICANS  OWN 
SHIPS  ?     IV,  273-282. 

"  Shooting,"  III,  58,  60,  62. 

Short-haul  clause,  the.  III,  180, 217-218. 

Sidg^vick,  Henry,  IV,  102. 

Sieroshevski,  M.,  I,  45. 

Silk,  IV,  36,  53,  102,  104,  110. 

Silver,  IV,  141,  149,  153,  157-162 
165-170,  173-180,  183-186,  189,  192, 
194,  201-209;  coinage,  IV,  111 
craze,  IV,  186,  195;  fallacies,  IV 
141-145;  free  coinage  of,  IV,  157-162 
men,  IV,  149,  152;  mines,  I,  286-287 
miners,  IV,  170,  488;  question,  I 
154,  231,  280;  II,  68;  IV,  234-235 
remonetization  of,  IV,  165-170 
standard,  IV,  162,  169;  theorists,  IV, 
168-169. 

Sinclair,  Upton,  III,  55, 58, 60. 

Single  combat,  I,  4. 

Single  tax,  the.  III,  312. 

Sisyphus,  IV,  99. 

Skepticism,  II,  23;  political,  HI, 
274-275. 

Skill,  the  loss  of,  II,  361. 

Slavery,  II,  140,  183-184,  252;  III, 
250;  IV,  17-18,  49,  110,  289,  317, 
318,  319,  230,  321,  322-323;  at 
Rome,  III,  71,  119;  Greek,  III,  303; 


in  early  Christianity,  II,  114, 
116-118;  in  the  classical  states, 
II,  112-114,  296;  in  EgJiJt,  III,  146; 
in  the  American  colonies.  III,  250, 
298,  301-304;  in  the  South,  111, 
301-304;  in  the  United  SUtes,  III, 
311,  348-350,  355-356;  "of  debt," 
II,  136,  145;  of  women,  I,  47,  57, 
68,  75,  77,  85,  87;  II,  262;  "  wages-," 

II,  13C,  145,  187,  312. 

Slums,  the,  I,  156;  III,  169-170,  422. 

Smith,  Adam,  III,  323-324. 

"  Social,"  III,  93. 

Social  actions  and  reactions,  II,  121-122. 

Social  agitator,  the,  II,  337,  352. 

Social  ambition,  IV^,  242. 

Social  amelioration,  IV,  493. 

Social  burdens.  III,  70,  128. 

Social  change,  II,  285-286;   the  family 

and,  I,  61. 
SOCIAL    CHANGE,     THE    FAMILY 

AND,  I,  43-61. 
Social  changes,  I,  241;   II,  38-40. 
Social    classes,    I,    241;     III,    69-71, 

129-130,   156-157,   392;    changes  in 

the,     II,     40-41;     in     the     United 

States,  III,  307-309. 
"  Social  compact,"  I,  162;   II,  131,  140. 
SOCIAL  CREED,  SOME  POINTS  IN 

THE  NEW,  II,  207-211. 
Social  discontent,  II,  337-338. 
Social  disease,  I,  171-172;   II,  275. 
Social  dogmas,  III,  193-194. 
Social  dogmatism,  III,  33-34. 
Social  endeavor,  I,  139. 
Social  environment,  III,  308-310. 
Social  equality.  III,  304. 
Social  experiments.  III,  291. 
Social    forces,    I,    226,    242;     II,    312; 

III,  76,  137,  140,  142;  IV,  216, 
250-251. 

Social  ills,  I,  185-186. 

Social  injustice,  I,  258,  261;  11, 152-153. 

Social  interest,  I,  218. 

SOCIAL    ISSUE,     THE    NEW,     III, 

207-212. 
Social  laws,  I,  191;   III,  37. 
Social  living,  I,  168. 
Social  matters,  the  sentimental  view  of, 

II,  70-72,  73,  74. 


552 


INDEX 


Social  motives,  the  four  great,  I,  14. 
Social  order,  the,  III.  37-38,  39;  bonds 

of.  III,  315,  325;    laws  of,  II,  284, 

285. 
Social  organism,  II,  283. 
Social  organization,   I,  238-239;     III, 

292-293;    IV,  325;    advancing.  III, 

315-317;      colonial.     III,     310-323; 

importance    of    the,    III,    309-310; 

intensification    of    the,    I,    198-199; 

in    the    United    States,     III.     331, 

336-341;   risks  of  high,  III,  340-341. 
Social  pets,  I,  248;  IV,  494. 
Social   phenomena,    I,    170,    191,   242; 

IV,  467. 
Social  philosophers,  II,  338-339,  349; 

III.  48. 
Social    philosophy,    I,    238-239;     11, 

339-340;  III,  32-35,  68-69. 
Social  power,  I,  199;   II,  180-181,  220; 

III,     140,     141-142,     145-147,  150, 

153-158. 
SOCIAL  POWER,   CONSEQUENCES 

OF  INCREASED,  III.  153-158. 
Social   pressure,   I,    184-185,    188-189; 

III.  156. 
"  Social  problem."  the.  II,  228-229. 
Social     problems,     I,     169-170,     171, 

230-231;    II,  93;    III,  22-23,  30-31, 

49-50.   51;    IV,   229.   402-^03,   404, 

405. 
Social  propositions.  Ill,  208. 
Social  question,  the.  III,  128-131. 
"  SOCIAL  QUESTION,"  WHAT  THE, 

IS, III.  127-133. 
Social  reaction.  II,  283,  285. 
"  Social  reform."  I.  252-253. 
Social  reform  and  war,  I,  31. 
Social  reformers,  I,  195-196. 
Social  relations,  II,  123. 
Social  remedy,  I,  171-172. 
Social  revolution.  III,  338-339. 
Social  risks.  Ill,  155. 
Social   science,   I,   239;    II,    168,   171, 

208,   217,  218,   364;    III,   127,   141, 

148.  150. 
SOCIAL  SCIENCE,  INTRODUCTORY 

LECTURE  TO   COURSES   IN  PO- 
LITICAL AND,  III,  391-403. 
Social  sciences,  the,  lU,  246,  407. 


Social  scientist,  duty  of  the,  HI, 
399-400. 

Social  tinker,  the,  II,  285-286. 

Social  topics,  I,  170;  III,  416-^25; 
IV,  468.  493. 

Social  uplift,  I,  250. 

Social  victories.  III,  131. 

Social  war,  II,  312-317;   IV,  169. 

SOCIAL  WAR  IN  DEMOCRACY,  II, 
312-317. 

Social  welfare,  I,  186. 

Socialism,  I,  207-208.  242,  323;  II, 
67,  70-71,  122.  127.  130.  174,  178, 
183-184,  187,  191;  III,  17,  36-49, 
51,  55-«2,  65-66,  74,  211-212; 
IV,  79,  441-462;  phases  of.  III, 
47-48;  the  political  element  in.  III, 
46-48. 

SOCIALIST,  REPLY  TO  A,  III,  55-62. 

Socialistic  doctrines.  III,  34,  41,  42, 
44-45. 

Socialistic  measures,  the  effect  of,  HI, 
77. 

Socialistic  propositions.  III,  193. 

Socialistic  state,  the,  II,  302,  303; 
III.  73-74.  75.  77.  97.  98. 

Socialists.  I.  169.  206.  229-230;  II, 
109-110.  191.  258.  267;  III.  36-37, 
39.  40-44,  52.  55-62.  94-95,  96,  98, 
129.  423. 

Socialpolilik,  III.  215. 

Societal  environment.  I,  129,  130,  143. 

Societal  evolution,  III,  82. 

Societal  functions,  the  integration  of, 
III,  82. 

Societal  organization.  III,  87;  and 
war,  I,  15,  30-35. 

Societal  selection  and  war,  I,  32-34. 

Societal  undertakings.  III.  81-82. 

Society.  I,  168.  174-175;  II,  364;  HI, 
392.  407-408,  420;  IV,  12,  13, 
479-480,  484;  advancing  organiza- 
tion of,  II,  286-287;  American 
colonial.  III,  290-323;  elasticity 
and  vitality  of.  III,  155;  embryonic, 
III,  290;  industrial.  Ill,  66,  321-322; 
medieval.  I.  143-145,  215-217;  miU- 
tant  type  of,  I,  28;  modern,  II, 
309;  III,  394-395;  of  a  new  coun- 
try,   III,    69-70;     organization    of. 


INDEX 


553 


I,  213;  II,  261;  organization  of 
civilized,  II,  144-145.  250,  251,  252, 
253,  283-287;  organs  of,  II,  284-286; 
primitive,  I,  7-9;  rights  of,  II,  97-98; 
science  of,  II,  71,  284,  285;  welfare 
of.  III,  201-202. 

SOCIOLOGICAL  FALLACIES,  II, 
357-364. 

Sociological  questions.  III,  409. 

SOCIOLOGICAL  STUDY,  THE  PRE- 
DICAMENT OF,  III,  415-425. 

SOCIOLOGY,  I,  167-192. 

Sociology,  I,  371;  II,  67,  357,  358,  364; 
III,  38,  51-52,  415^25;  IV,  14, 
16,  401-405;  and  the  exact  sciences, 
III,  410;  and  novelists.  III,  424-425; 
and  political  economy,  I,  180-183; 
definition  of,  I,  167-168;  dogmatism 
in.  III,  418-419;  field  of.  I,  173-178; 
German  school  of.  III,  418;  mystical, 

III,  418;  need  of.  I.  172-173;  III, 
407-408;  IV,  402;  promise  of,  I, 
192;  scientific.  III,  419-420;  senti- 
mental, III,  419,  420;  the  task  of, 
I,  170-171. 

SOCIOLOGY,    THE    SCIENCE    OF, 

IV,  401-405. 

SOCIOLOGY  AS  A  COLLEGE  SUB- 
JECT, III,  407-411. 
Soft  money.  III,  371. 
Soil,  possession  of  the,  1, 178-180. 
Solon,  status  of  women  in  the  laws  of, 

I,  101. 

Sound  money,  III,  370-371. 

South,    the,    III,    376-378;     IV,    312, 

319,  320,  324.  344-345,  354;  planters 

of,  IV,  287;    politicians  of,  IV,  317; 

slavery  in,  III,  301-304. 
South  Africa,  IV,  282;  war  in,  1,6. 
South  America,  IV,   52,  55;    and  the 

United  States,  I,  277-278. 
South  American  Commission,  IV,  69. 
South  American  republics,  I,  277-278; 

III,  230. 
South  Carolina,  IV,  354. 
Sovereignty,   IV,   290;    of  the  people, 

III,  263-264,  370-871. 
Space,  II,  240. 
Spain,    I.    293.    303,    304,    305,    319; 

II,  53-54,   313;    IV,   64;    and  im- 


perialism, I,  297;  the  civilizing  mis- 
sion of.  I.  304.  305;  the  colonial 
system  of,  I,  30G-310,  318,  319. 

SPAIN,  THE  CONQUEST  OF  THE 
UNITED   STATES  BY,   I,   297-334. 

Spanish  America,  I,  304-305,  308. 

Spanish-American  colonies,  I,  276,  306; 

II,  57-58. 
Spanish-American  states,  I,  312. 
Spanish-American    war,     I,     29,     297, 

298,  300-301,  343;   II,  69. 

Specie,  IV,  375-376,  381;  circular,  IV, 
379,  380,  385;  payments,  resump- 
tion of,  IV.  176. 

Specific  interest.  III.  196-197. 

Speculation,  IV,  374-375. 

SPECULATIVE  LEGISLATION,  III, 
215-219. 

Spencer.  Herbert,  III,  208;  IV,  401,  405. 

Spices,  IV,  265-267. 

Spirit,  the  modern.  III,  347-350. 

Spoils,  III,  268-270;  doctrine.  III,  269; 
of  office,  II,  303;  party,  II,  328; 
System,  III,  268-270. 

Stable  government,  I,  350. 

Stamp  Act  Congress,  the.  Ill,  327. 

Standard  of  gain,  IV.  68-69. 

Standard  of  living,  II,  33-35. 

State,  the,  I,  247-248;  II,  129,  183, 
305,  364;  III.  74-75,  223-226; 
IV,  13-14,  15.  17-18.  78-80,  81, 
231-232,  258;  a  burden,  I,  215, 
216-217,  218;  a  consumer,  II, 
104-105;  a  monopoly,  II,  310;  an 
ethical  person,  I,  221;  II,  309;  and 
capital,  II,  306;  and  church,  I,  131, 
162;  II,  18-19,  310;  and  industry, 
I.  215;  II,  300,  310;  and  market, 
separation  of,  II.  310;  as  a  peace- 
group,  I,  23;  function  of,  II,  169-170, 
271;  "  of  nature,"  II,  131,  140,  219; 
"  reasons  of."  I.  37,  333;  II,  165-166; 

III,  240;  socialistic,  II,  302-303; 
III,  73-74,  75.  77.  97.  98. 

State  absolutism,  II,  130. 

State  action,  II,  207-208,  302. 

STATE  AND  MARKET,  SEPARA- 
TION OF,  II,  306-311. 

STATE  AND  MONOPOLY,  THE,  11, 
270-279. 


554 


INDEX 


STATE  AS  AN  "  ETHICAL  PERSON," 

THE,  III,  201-204. 
State  banks,  IV,  380. 
STATE  INTERFERENCE,  I,  213-226. 
State    interference,     I,    213-226;      II, 

96,  98,  100,  270-279,   285-289,  328. 
State  necessity,  I,  339-344. 
State  power,  abuse  of,  III,  71-72. 
State  protection,  II,  153. 
State  regulation,  II,  285-287;   IH.  177, 

210;    IV,   480-482;     of   industry,   I, 

216-217;  of  marriage  and  the  family, 

II,  93-94,  103-104. 

States,  character  of  governing,  I,  346; 
expedient  size   of,    I,   285;    frontier, 

III,  332;     national,     I,    285;      the 
Spanish-American,  I,  312. 

Statesmanship,  III,  396;  IV,  15,  20, 
59,  329-330;  and  war,  I,  35;  bad.  III, 
37;  questions  of,  I,  298,  299-300, 
301. 

Statesmen,  III,  281-282;  IV,  11-12, 
15,  37,  41-42,  58,  66,  67,  299;  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  IV,  11. 

Statistics,  HI,  401;  IV.  47,  76-77,  86, 
338. 

Status,  II,  125,  308;  IV,  474;  -wife, 
I.  47,  68,  76,  85-86,  89,  90,  91.  101. 

Steam,  the  age  of.  III,  173, 181-182. 

Steel,  IV,  77,  91,  274,  275. 

Stewart,  A.  T.,  IV,  97. 

Stickney,  II,  326. 

Strabo,  I,  12. 

Stranger  and  enemy,  I,  10-11. 

Strikes,  I,  233;  II,  286-287;  HI, 
99-100;  IV.  228,  243-245,  249-250, 
251-252;  in  Germany,  I,  232-233. 

STRIKES,   THE   PHILOSOPHY   OF, 

IV,  239-246. 

STRIKES  AND  THE  INDUSTRIAL 
ORGANIZATION,  IV,  249-253. 

Struggle,  II.  312-317;  for  existence. 
I,  8,  9,  164,  173,  176-177;  II,  226. 
347;  III,  17-18,  19.  20,  22,  26, 
30-31,  57,  58,  120-121,  122-123; 
IV,  79,  257;  for  supremacy  in  the 
Union,  III,  332-333;  industrial. 
n,  286-287;  military,  II,  286-287; 
of  classes,  II,  312-317;  III,  12^132; 
of  interests,  I,  222,  224. 


Subsidies,   IV,   58,   275-276,   280-281. 

Subsistence,  means  of.  III,  114-115, 
119-121,  145,  146,  171;  war  for,  I, 
14. 

Sub-treasury  system,  the,  IV,  383. 

Sue,  Eugene,  IV,  483. 

Suffrage,  III.  253;  IV,  344;  in  the 
United  States.  Ill,  225;  negro, 
I,  330-331,  349. 

Sugar,  IV.  53,  60-66. 

Sumatrans,  the.  I.  20. 

Sumner.  William  Graham.  Autobio- 
graphical Sketch  of,  II.  3-5;  Sketch 
of.  III.  3-13. 

Sunlight,  II,  240. 

Superiority,  privilege  with.  II,  123. 

Supply  and  demand,  II,  225;  III,  97-98, 
119.  121;  IV.  141,  196,  198.  201, 
204,  214.  251.  252. 

Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States, 
11,325-326;  111,329. 

Survival  of  the  fittest,  III,  25,  423; 
IV,  225. 

Survival  of  the  unfittest.  III,  25,  423; 
IV,  225. 

Survivals.  Ill,  420-421. 

Sydney.  IV.  366. 

System,  UI,  55-56,  57-58.  59;  IV, 
133;  colonial,  I,  274-275,  278, 
306-310,  313,  315.  316,  317,  318, 
319;  II,  49-50,  53,  57,  60;  III.  323; 
IV,  12,  59;  common  school.  III, 
357;  feudal,  II,  312-313;  manor, 
III,  310-312;  medieval.  I.  131; 
navigation.  I.  318.  320;  political,  of 
the  United  States.  Ill,  341-342; 
spoils.  III.  268-270;  wages,  II, 
185-187;  III,  97,  294. 


Taboo,  II,  80-81;    peace-,  I,    16,   18, 

26. 
Taine,  H.  A.,  Ill,  73. 
Talent,  II,  134.  329;   and  industry,  II, 

323. 
Tammany  Hall,  IV,  313,  327,  361. 
Taney,  R.  B.,  IV,  359. 
Tariff,  IV.  22,  24,  44-45,   64,  74,  79, 

85,   89,   233,   234;    Commission.  IV, 

27-28,    63,    94;     decisions,    IV,    30; 


INDEX 


555 


of  1828,  IV,  308,  312-313,  351, 
354;  of  1883,  IV,  27-29;  rightly 
adjusted,  IV,  133-134;  victims  of 
the.IV,  19,  111. 

TARIFF  REFORM,  IV,  115-120. 

Taussig,  F.  W.,  IV,  28,  108. 

Ta.\-,  IV,  21-22,  23;  payers,  I,  259 
II,  99-101,  102,  122;  IV,  101 
protective,  I,  263,  264-266;  III,  74 
single.  III,  312. 

Taxation,  III,  74,  327,  400;  IV,  31-32, 
58,  108,  110,  115-118;  campaign 
against,  IV,  110. 

Taxes,  IV,  11-12,  19-20,  31,  33,  44-45, 
58,  67,  74,  76,  96,  479;  excise.  III, 
327;  on  exports,  IV,  12,  15-16; 
on  imports,  IV,  12,  16,  20;  reducing, 
IV,  115-118,  119. 

Teachers,  IV,  413,  41&-417;  the  de- 
mands on,  II,  12. 

TEACHER'S  UNCONSCIOUS  SUC- 
CESS, THE,  II,  9-13. 

Technical  training,  IV,  424-425,  431. 

Telegraph  and  telephone.  III,  89;  as 
natural  monopolies,  II,  245-246. 

Telegraphers,  IV,  243-245. 

"  Tenant  slaves,"  II,  136. 

Tenants,  III,  156-157,  295. 

Terms,  definition  of,  needed.  III,  93; 
the  vagueness  of.  III,  161-162. 

Territorial  aggrandizement,  I,  286. 

Territorial  extension,  I,  285-286,  337, 
339;  II,  57;  the  burdens  of,  I, 
292-293. 

TERRITORIAL  EXTENSION,  THE 
FALLACY  OF,  I,  285-293. 

Territory,  jurisdiction  over,  I,  286-288, 
289,  290;    II,  54-56. 

TeiTorism,  III,  186. 

Tertullian,  II,  114. 

Texas,  II,  47,  57;  IV,  55-56,  165, 
317,  319;  the  acquisition  of,  I,  341; 
the  admission  of.  III,  262. 

Theocracy,  definition  of,  II,  290. 

Theory,  IV,  16-17,  18,  19,  94;  defini- 
tion of,  IV,  16. 

Those  who  consume  more  than  they 
produce,  IV,  101. 

Those-who-have,  II,  315-316;  III, 
102, 165,  339. 


Those-who-have-not,  II,  315-316;  III, 
102,  165,  339. 

Those  who  i)roduce  more  than  they 
consume,  IV,  101. 

Thread,  IV,  94,  492;  protective  tax 
on,  1,264-266;  IV,  492. 

Thuringian  Co.,  IV,  265-267. 

Tilden,  S.  J.,  Ill,  369-374,  378-379. 

Tillers  and  nomads.  III,  300. 

Tin,  IV,  42-43. 

Tobacco,  I\',  489-190. 

Tocquevillc,  Alexis  de.  III,  256. 

ToQ,  II,  236,  238. 

Tories,  the.  III,  325;   IV,  286. 

Town,  the.  Superseded,  III,  260-261. 

Town  and  country,  I,  155-157. 

Town  democracy,  UI,  256-260,  262, 
266,  267. 

Town  meeting,  the.  III,  256-259. 

Towns,  colonial.  III,  313-315,  318- 
319;  the  Evils  of  Overgrown,  III, 
259-261. 

Townships  and  towns  contrasted.  III, 
313-314. 

Trade,  I,  320-322;  IV,  51-56,  92,  93, 
97,  229;  and  conquest,  I,  321; 
balance  of,  IV,  12;  carrying,  IV, 
275,  276,  277-279,  280,  282;  con- 
ditions of,  I,  321;  foreign,  IV,  119; 
free,  I,  289-290,  291,  318,  319,  321, 
322;  II,  51,  109-110,  111;  III, 
378;  IV,  16,  17-18,  19,  20,  26,  47, 
48-49,  83,  90,  94,  95,  109-110, 
123-127,  282,  312,  318;  primitive, 
IV,  53. 

Trade  schools,  II,  101. 

Trades-unions,  I,  250-252;  III,  102; 
IV,  262,  486^87. 

Tradition,  II,  80;   and  religion,  I,  131. 

Traditions,  III,  347,  348;  American, 
III,  252-254,  255;   English,  III,  297. 

Tramp,  libcrtj'  of  the,  II,  154-155. 

Transcendentalism,  III,  415,  417. 

Transportation,  I,  187-189;  III,  85; 
means  of,  II,  245. 

Treaties,  I,  13. 

Trial  and  failure,  IV,  18,  20. 

Tribute,  IV,  23,  34.  86.  105,  106,  107. 

"  Truce  of  God,"  the,  I,  21. 

"  TRUST,"  AN  OLD,  IV,  265-269. 


556 


INDEX 


Trusts,  I,  238;    II,  253,  298-299,  343; 

IV,  258-2(32,  265-269. 
TRUSTS     AND     TRADES-UNIONS, 

IV,  257-262. 
Truth,  II,  18. 

Turkey,  II,  55;  IV,  24,  135,  282. 
Tweed  ring,  the.  III,  373. 
Tyler,  John,  IV,  316,  360. 
Tyndall,  Professor,  III,  400-401. 
Tyranny,  I,  213-215;    of  the  market, 

II,    151-152;     of   vague   impression, 

11,324;  political,  I,  222-223. 


Ulpian,  II,  114-115. 
Undergraduate  life,  IV,  429-430. 
Underpopulation,     I,      159,      183-184, 

185,   187-188;    II,  42,  43,  44;    III, 

22-23,  121. 
Unearned  increment,  II,  244;   III,  312. 
Unfittest,  survival  of  the.  III,  25,  423; 

IV,  22,5. 
Union,    the.    III,    315,    325-326;     IV, 

289,     297;      and    the    Constitution, 

III,  250-252;    struggle  for    suprem- 
acy in.  III,  332-333. 

Unions,  trades-,  I,  250-252;    III,  102; 

IV,  262,  486-187. 

UNITED  STATES,  ADVANCING 
SOCIAL  AND  POLITICAL  OR- 
GANIZATION IN  THE,  III.  289-344. 

United  States,  the,  I,  153,  219-220,  297, 
304,  305;  IV,  17,  48,  52,  58,  69,  76, 
78,  83,  90,  94,  96,  108,  118,  119, 
229,  240-242,  278,  282,  290,  291, 
292,  317,  338-339,  371,  379,  477-i78, 
481,  489;  and  Canada,  I,  289-290; 
II,  51;  and  China,  I,  343-344; 
and  Cuba,  I,  290-291;  II,  55-57; 
and  dependencies,  I,  310,  311-312, 
317-319;  and  foreign  affairs,  I, 
276-277;  II,  60-61;  and  Germany, 
II,  302;  and  imperialism,  I,  291, 
345-346;  and  South  America,  I, 
277-278;  and  territorial  extension, 
I,  292;  a  nation.  III,  350,  354;  as 
a  peace-group,  I,  26-29;  Bank  of, 
IV,  259,  313,  340,  352-354,  355, 
356,  358,  359,  360-361,  372-374, 
377,    379,    380,    381-382,    385,    386, 


387,  388-390,  391,  395;  centraliza- 
tion in.  III,  316-317;  civilizing 
mission  of,  I,  304,  305;  colonial 
society  of.  III,  290-323;  colonial 
history  of.  III,  248-253,  290-323; 
Constitution  of,  I,  310,  311,  313. 
314,  315;  II,  333;  III,  251,  252-255, 
306-307,  325-326,  329,  334-336, 
396-397;  IV,  289,  291,  292,  297, 
304,  319,  320,  331-332,  344,  348-349, 
360,  367;  future  of,  I,  350-351;  III, 
275-277;  government  of,  III,  326-328; 
IV,  323;  growth  of.  III,  315-316; 
industrial  organization  in,  I,  196-199; 
industrial  power  of,  III,  154;  job- 
bery in,  I,  262-263;  IV,  488-491; 
movement  of  population  in,  II,  44; 
national  bank  system  of,  I,  31; 
nature  of,  I,  310-311;  nature  of 
democracy  in,  I,  324-325;  not  a 
colonizing  nation,  I,  305-306;  oU- 
garchies  in,  II,  329-330;  political 
corruption  in.  III,  395-396,  397; 
political  earth  hunger  of,  II,  50-51, 
53;  political  system  of.  III,  341-342; 
position  of,  I,  26-27;  II,  63-64; 
111,321-322,  344,350-351;  position 
of  laborers  in,  I,  196;  position  of 
the  president  of.  III,  283;  race 
antagonism  in,  I,  28;  slavery  in, 
III,  311,  348-350,  355-356;  social 
classes  in.  III,  307-309;  suffrage 
in.  III,  335;  Supreme  Court  of, 
II,  325-320;  III,  329;  treatment  of 
aborigines  by,  I,  27-28. 

UNITED  STATES,  THE  CONQUEST 
OF  THE,  BY  SPAIN,  I,  297-334. 

Universal  peace,  I,  35-36. 

University,  the.  III,  82. 

Unskilled  laborers,  I,  159,  249,  251-252; 
II,  44;   III,  122. 

Utopias,  I,  169;  II,  25,  183;  III, 
243-244. 

Vagabondage,  11,  125. 

Value,  IV,  196-198,  199,  210. 

Van  Buren,  Martin,  IV,  315,  318,  319, 

355. 
Vanderbilt,  I,  201. 
Vanity,  I,  14,  130;   III,  113;   and  war, 


INDEX 


557 


I,  14,  39;  national,  I,  300-301,  303, 
304,  343,  344;  11,  46,  51. 

Venezuela,  I,  38,  278,  328. 

Vice,  II,  229;  III,  19,  23,  67,  298; 
IV,  470,  480,  487;  and  legislation, 
I,  252;  penalty  of,  I,  252;  political, 
I,  300-301,  302;   sex-,  I,  78. 

Vices  of  human  nature,  III,  233-234. 

Vicious  legislation,  II,  275,  277. 

Village  communities,  III,  298-300, 
313-314. 

Violence,  III,  73. 

Virginians,  IV,  322. 

Virtues,    the    industrial,    11,    345-346; 

III,  51-52,  201-202,  297;  taught 
by  war,  I,  15. 

Vital  energy.  III,  96-97. 
Voltaire,  I,  121;   II,  23. 
Von  Hoist,  Professor,  IV,  339,  340. 
Vows,  I,  157. 

Wage-earners,  III,  141-142,  162-163, 
173-174;   IV,  168. 

Wages,  I,  233,  251,  265-266;  EI,  42,  43, 
44,  61;  III,  35,  102,  172;  IV,  12, 
29-30,  36,  43-46,  51-52,  70-78,  90, 
119,  126,  168,  243-245,  249-250, 
486-487;  and  prices,  IV,  249-250. 
252;    -class.    III,    94-97,    169,    170; 

IV,  44-45,  71-72;  rate  of,  I,  237; 
"slavery,"  II,  136,  145,  187,  312; 
system,  II,  185-187;  III,  97;  IV, 
71;  system  lacking.  III,  294. 

Wagner,  II,  322. 

Wall  Street,  IV,  152-153,  162. 

Walras,  IV,  196. 

Wampum,  TV,  208. 

WAR,  I,  3^0. 

War,  I,  3^0;  11,  50,  63,  79-80,  301; 
III,  320-322,  359-360;  IV,  67,  68, 
95-96,  108,  324;  about  women,  I,  5; 
a  ferment,  I,  33;  among  the  Papuans, 
I,  4;  and  civilization,  I,  16,  34-35; 
and  discipline,  I,  14,  15;  and  group 
sentiment,  I,  9;  and  kinship,  I,  19- 
20;  and  poUtical  organization,  I,  4; 
and  property,  I,  4;  and  racial 
progress,  I,  16;  and  religion,  I,  11, 
14-15,  19-20.  24-26;  and  social 
reform,  I,  31;   and  societal  organiza- 


tion, I,  15,  30-35;  and  societal 
selection,  I,  32-34;  and  statesman- 
ship, I,  35;  and  the  competition  of 
life,  I,  9-10,  14;  and  the  increase  of 
population,  I,  4,  10;  and  vanity,  I, 
14,  39;  bene6ts  of,  I,  30-34;  between 
the  tribes  of  Israel,  I,  9;  causes  of, 
I,  14;  Civil,  the,  I,  31,  32,  217, 
219,  311;  m,  277,  316,  321,  329-330. 
333,  349,  351-354.  359-362,  398-400; 
rV,  175,  223,  323-324,  330;  com- 
mercial, IV,  95-96;  fairness  in,  I, 
5;  for  duty.  III,  362;  for  glory,  I, 
14;  III,  362;  for  religious  motives, 
I,  14;  for  subsistence,  I,  14;  for 
women,  I,  14;  Franco-Prussian,  IV, 
224;  horrors  of,  reduced,  I,  19-20; 
industrial,  I,  225,  232,  234-236,  237. 
239,  241,  243;  III,  98-102;  IV,  246, 
261;    inevitable,  I,  10;   in  Melanesia, 

I,  5;   in  South  Africa,  I,  6;   laws  of, 

II,  112-113;  love  of,  I,  29;  major 
premises  about,  I,  3;  makes  peace, 
I,  11;  not  kno^\Ti,  I,  6;  of  1812,  IV, 
301-302,  372;  only  a  makeshift,  I, 
35;    regulations,   I,   19-20;    rules  of, 

I,  19-20;  social,  11,  312-317;  IV, 
169;  Spanish- American,  the,  I,  29, 
297,  298,  299,  300-301,  343;  II,  69; 
state  of  readiness  for,  I,  39-40; 
virtues  taught  by,  I,  15;  waste 
of,  I,  16;  within  a  peace-group,  I, 
18-19. 

WAR,  INDUSTRIAL,  III,  93-102. 
WAR,  SOCIAL,  m  DEMOCRACY,  11, 

312-317. 
Warfare,  modern,  I,  29;   political,  TTT, 

268-270. 
Warlikeness,  I,  7. 
Wars,     eighteenth     century.     I,     320; 

II,  60;  of  the  colonists  with  the 
French  and  Indians,  III,  250,  251; 
railroad,  I,  240;    religious,  I,  25. 

"  Wares,"  II,  185-186. 

Washington,  city  of,  IV,  26,  41,  44,  68. 

Washington,    George,    III,    342,    343; 

IV,  291,  292,  293,  341,  343. 
Waste,   IV,   33,  40,   43,  51,   106,   109, 

111;   land,  11,  37-38. 
Watchwords,  U,  322;  IV,  298. 


558 


INDEX 


Water  power,  II,  318. 

Water  supply,  II,  241;  a  natural  mo- 
nopoly, II,  246. 

Weak,  the,  IV.  475,  494. 

Wealth,  I,  202;  II,  10.  147,  149, 
293-295;  III,  42-43;  265-266;  IV, 
40;  abolishing,  II,  231;  accumula- 
tion of.  III,  320;  aggregation  of, 
III.  66-67,  81,  90;  and  Democracy, 
III,  274-275;  and  liberty,  II,  147-154; 
and  poverty.   III,   65-77;    cares  of, 

II,  150-154;  concentration  of.  III, 
81-90;  distribution  of,  II,  228; 
national,  I,  307-308;  pursuit  of,  IV, 
295-296;  relative,  II,  229-230;  thirst 
for,  II,  147. 

WEALTH:  THE  CONCENTRATION 
OF,  ITS  ECONOMIC  JUSTIFI- 
CATION, III,  81-90. 

Webster,  Daniel,  II,  327;  III,  177;  IV, 
316,  342,  353,  354. 

Wedding,  I,  43;  ceremony,  1,75,76,93. 

"  We-group,"  the,  I,  9. 

West  Africans,  the,  I,  49,  50. 

West  Australians,  i>eace-institution3 
of  the,  I,  18. 

Westminster  Review  IV,  107. 

WHAT  EMANCIPATES,  III,  137-142. 

WHAT  IS  CIVIL  LIBERTY?  II, 
10J>-130. 

WHAT  IS  FREE  TRADE  ?  IV,  123- 
127. 

WHAT  IS  THE  '*  PROLETARIAT  "  ? 

III,  161-165. 

WHAT  MAKES  THE  RICH  RICHER 
AND  THE  POOR  POORER?  Ill, 
65-77. 

WHAT  OUR  BOYS  ARE  READING, 
II,  367-377. 

WHAT  THE  "  SOCIAL  QUESTION  " 
IS.  ni,  127-133. 

Wheat,  IV,  42,  47,  55-56,  58,  59,  85, 
91-92,  97;  and  iron.  III,  39. 

Whigs,  the,  lU,  325,  327,  328;  IV, 
314,  315,  316,  319,  321,  355,  357, 
363. 

WHO  IS  FREE?  IS  IT  THE  CIVI- 
LIZED MAN?     II,  140-145. 

WHO  IS  FREE?  IS  IT  THE  MIL- 
LIONAIRE?    n,  145-150. 


WHO  IS  FREE?  IS  IT  THE  SAVAGE? 
II,  136-140. 

WHO  IS  FREE?  IS  IT  THE  TRAMP? 
II,  150-1.55. 

WHO  WIN  BY  PROGRESS?  III. 
169-174. 

Wife,  the  status-.  I.  47,  68,  76,  85-86, 
89,90,91,  101. 

Wife-capture,  I,  48,  77,  85. 

Wife-purchase,  I,  66,  68,  70,  74.  85.  86. 

Wilder,  IV,  387. 

"  WiU  of  the  people,"  IV.  314.  318,  328, 
329,  344,  348. 

Williams,  IV,  136,  137. 

Wilhmantic  linen  company,  IV,  492. 

Willson,  Wildes,  and  Wiggins,  IV,  378, 
379. 

Winthrop,  John,  HI,  293;  IV,  72. 

Wire-pullers,  IV,  362. 

Wisdom,  IV,  426,  427. 

WITCHCRAFT,  I,  105-126. 

Witchcraft,  I,  105-126;  II,  21-23; 
IV,  153;  and  Christianity,  I.  112; 
and  heresy,  I,  105;  and  hysteria, 
I.  108,  119-120;  and  poUtics,  I, 
125-126;  II,  23;  and  religion,  I, 
119-121;  and  the  aleatory  element, 
I,  110,  119-120;  and  the  Catholic 
Church,  I,  123;  and  the  Inquisition, 
I,  105-109;  and  women,  I,  105-107; 
decline  of,  I,  121;  in  France,  I, 
117-118;  in  Germany,  I,  106,  107, 
112,  116;  in  Italy,  I,  112,  117-118; 
in  New  England,  I,  122-123;  mania, 
opposition  to   the,   I,   110,   113-115. 

Witch-persecutions,  I,  109-112;  II, 
21-22;  and  greed  for  money,  I,  111; 
in  Scotland,  I,  115-116;  recent,  I, 
124-125;    the  extent  of,  I,  118. 

Witch-trials,  I,  109-110. 

Wolcott,  Oliver,  IV,  292,  295. 

Wolowski,  L.,  IV,  191-193,  194,  197. 

Woman,  the  forgotten,  I,  264-266; 
IV,  492^93. 

Women,  I,  65-102;  as  property,  II, 
262;  as  witches,  I,  105-107;  domi- 
nance of,  II,  122;  how  regarded,  I, 
50-60,  73,  74,  77,  78-79,  81,  89,  91-92, 
95-97,  100-101;  in  industry,  IV, 
243;    medieval  views  of,  I,  106-109; 


INDEX 


559 


peace  for,  I,  21;  rule  of,  I,  49; 
seclusion  of,  I,  65,  69-70,  71,  89,  92, 
94,  101;  slaves,  I,  47,  67,  68,  69,  75, 
77,  85,  87;  II,  262;  status  of,  among 
nomads,  I,  65;  status  of,  among  the 
Jews,  I,  51-52,  76-81;  status  of, 
among  the  Persians,  I,  75-76; 
status  of,  and  the  mores,  I,  67,  68; 
status  of,  at  Rome,  I,  56-60;  status 
of,  how  controlled,  I,  65-67;  status 
of,  in  Babylonia,  I,  69-71 ;  status  of, 
in  Chaldea,  I,  69,  70,  71;  sUtus  of, 
in  early  Christianity,  I,  52-60; 
status  of,  in  Egypt,  I,  81-85;  status 
of,  in  Greece,  I,  85-102;  status  of, 
in  Homer,  I,  85-87;  status  of,  in 
India,  I,  72-75;   status  of,  in  Judea, 

I,  76-80;    status  of,  in  monogamy, 

II,  i^5,  257;  status  of,  in  savage 
life,  I,  46;  status  of,  in  the  father- 
family,  I,  51;  status  of,  in  the  laws 
of  Hammurabi,  I,  67-69,  71;  status 
of,  in  the  laws  of  Manu,  I,  72-75; 
status  of,  in  the  laws  of  Solon,  I, 
101;  status  of,  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, I,  80-81;  status  of,  in  the  Old 
Testament,  I,  76-80;  status  of, 
imder  agriculture,  I,  65;  strength 
of,  I,  44^6;  subjection  of,  II, 
122-123;  war  about,  I,  5;  war  for, 
I,  14. 

WOMEN,  THE  STATUS  OF,  IN 
CHALDEA.EGYPT,  INDIA,  JUDEA, 
AND  GREECE  TO  THE  TIME  OF 
CHRIST,  I,  65-102. 


Wood  supply,  II,  241. 

Wool,  IV,  33-34,  36,  54,  55,  90. 

Woolen  mill,  IV,  39-^0. 

Woolen  operative,  IV,  46-47. 

Work,  II,  149,  150,  220;    III,  34,  35; 

IV.  36,  55,  91,  98;    intellectual,  II, 

192-193;   the  right  to.  III,  34-35. 
Working  classes,  the,  I,  24»-250;    IV, 

477^78. 
"  Working  man,"  the,  H,  102;   IV,  43; 

and  education,  II,  100. 
Workshops,  public,  IV,  79,  92. 
WORLD,     THE    ABSURD     EFFORT 

TO  MAKE  THE,  OVER,  I,  195-210. 
World-improvers,  HI,  188,  210,  416. 
World-philosophy,    I,    129,    133,    134, 

143. 
World-system,   the  dual,   I,   276,   277, 

278;   II,  60-62. 
Worry,  II,  150,  154. 
Wright,  Carroll,  IV,  77. 
Writers    on    industrial    problems,     I, 

236-238. 


Yakuts,  the,  I,  45. 

Yale  diploma,  what  it  ought  to  mean* 

I,  361-362. 
Yeomen,  III,  300. 


Zendavesta,  the,  I,  75-76. 
Zoroaster,  I,  75,  134. 
Zoroastrianism,  I,  137. 
Zulus,  the,  HI,  129. 


^79 


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